GARDEN CENTRE PLANNING & DESIGN
The entrance to the Open Sky plant sales glasshouse at Bents Garden & Home, one of the first of its kind in the UK.
Bold, Imaginative plant retailing at Barton Grange Garden Centre.
Ernest developed close friendships with the Bents and other families with whom he worked. Here, with Ron and Matthew Bent, he holds a copy of his fascinating autobiography, Chasing Spring.
Bents Garden & Home Ron Bent, chairman and founder, and his son Matthew, CE, say Ernest’s influence on their family business can’t be summed up in a few words. Matthew: “One thing that Ernest brought to us was to think long term, not just short term - that is, start with the final plan and then work back.” Ron: “Ernest changed me from being a ‘need it now’ reactionary planner to a longterm detailed planner. Initially, his need for detail was a huge frustration but the results from the detail proved it was critical to our future success.” Ron recalls meeting Ernest when he was a guest speaker at a Garden Centre Association conference in 1988. “I was immediately taken by him and his approach to garden centre planning and design,” Ron told us. “He was a very knowledgable plantsman and garden designer so his approach was totally different. He was also actually a psychologist. “He would listen to all of your hopes and aspirations and ask you the most difficult questions; nothing escaped his observations, but he always managed to capture your ideas and dreams in his notes and eventually on paper in the garden centre design. “‘What would Ernest ask?’ is still a core part of our discussions and planning. Ernest has helped us plan and deliver every stage of our development from the first shop extension in 1996 to our latest expansion plans. We are enormously grateful to him for all the help and guidance he has given to us over the years, but most of all we will miss him as a dear and cherished friend.” Matthew added: “He has had a fantastic effect on the business helping us to work
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Ernest in World War II with General Macarthur, who recruited him as an intelligence officer for Far East duty. together better, plan better and see the business from the customers’ point of view.“ Peter Seabrook, journalist and broadcaster Peter never worked with Ernest but met up with him many times at GCA and international conferences and congresses. “The first lecture he gave, in London (in a first-floor hotel conference room overlooking Green Park if I remember correctly) in the early days of garden centres, made a lasting impression. He was so professional in the preparation and presentation, spoke such good common sense and obviously from personal experience. “The clearly remembered piece of advice that stuck with me from that lecture was his research which indicated customers were unlikely to walk through items for sale for more than 30 yards, unless we brought something into view to tempt them further. Having an attractive roadside entrance, clear signage and not too much of it were other early messages.
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