Two of the county's Wyevale Garden Centres (WGC) have been sold.

It was announced last summer that all its stores were up for grabs with buyers sought for all or individual outlets.

Now branches in Chartham, near Canterbury, and Tunbridge Wells are among eight sold to garden centre operator Blue Diamond.

All will continue to trade.

It follows the sale of eight centres to the garden centre operator in July 2018 and one in August 2018.

The sales are expected to complete mid-September.

Anthony Jones, COO of Wyevale Garden Centres, said: "The decision to take on six more sites is testament to both the strength of our garden centres and the level of trust and confidence that has developed between the WGC and Blue Diamond teams through this sale process."

Alan Roper, managing director of Blue Diamond, added: “I went back to Wyevale Garden Centres to look for only a couple more centres and came out with six.

"Geographically all the centres are a perfect fit and enable us to deliver our full Blue Diamond proposition. We look forward to working with our new colleagues across the centres and welcoming them into the Blue Diamond family."

The sites were put up for sale by its owners, private equity company Terra Firma - founded by former Tonbridge school boy Guy Hands last year.

Terra Firma bought Wyevale Garden Centres (WGC) for £276m in 2012.

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