St Peter’s goes for growth with Mercedes-Benz Sprinter

Garden centre boss Tony Blake knows all about putting on a colourful display – and there’s certainly no missing his new Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.

The brightly liveried van is the latest prize specimen to go on show at the award-winning St Peter’s Garden Centre in Broomhall, Worcester.

The Medium length, high-roofed Sprinter 313CDI was supplied by Kidderminster dealer Mudie-Bond, whose sales executive Gareth Thomas provided “first class customer service” according to Mr Blake.

The van is now busy delivering an extensive range of plants, compost, furniture and other accessories, as well as pets and aquatics, to St Peter’s customers.

It is the subject of a five-year lease arrangement with the manufacturer’s in house commercial vehicle finance arm Mercedes-Benz CharterWay – but once this is up, Mr Blake plans to buy into a repair and maintenance package from Mudie-Bond then run the vehicle for a further five years.

“That’s exactly what we did with our last van, which was also a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, and it worked very well indeed,” he confirmed. “We don’t cover mountains of miles but we had 10 years of very reliable service from that vehicle, while the back-up from Mudie-Bond was always excellent.”

Mr Blake continued: “We bought our first Sprinter back in 2000 because Mercedes-Benz was the only van manufacturer at the time that offered ABS anti-lock braking as a standard feature. Safety is still at the top of my list of priorities and although the technology has since moved on in leaps and bounds, Mercedes-Benz continues to lead the field.” 

The new van’s eye-catching livery is the work of Worcester-based designer Geoff Carter and was applied by local specialist City Signs.

“Our new Sprinter is a lot more comfortable and better equipped than the vehicle it’s replaced, while we’ve also gone for optional air conditioning,” adds Mr Blake. “So it’s no surprise that driver John Wills absolutely loves it.

“When it’s out on the road the van serves as a great mobile advertisement for our garden centre, and I’m convinced that prestigious three-pointed star on the front of the vehicle also says something about the quality of our own business.”

Tony Blake established St Peter’s Garden Centre on the site of a derelict pig farm in 1992. Still proudly independent, it is now the country’s 85th largest garden centre with a staff of 80 and a turnover of some £4.5 million. As well as retailing a comprehensive range of garden and household products, it also boasts a popular coffee shop and restaurant.