Tong Garden Centre strengthens its team

Award winning Bradford business Tong Garden Centre has strengthened its team with appointments in Marketing, HR and Finance.

Leigh Quinn from Leeds has been appointed to the newly created position of Online Insight Manager to develop Tong’s online presence; Carrie Mackertich from Garforth is the centre’s new HR and Training Manager responsible for recruiting new talent and developing existing talent and Emma Wiltshire from Pudsey runs accounts and payroll in her new role of Accounts Assistant Manager.

Leeds Rhino fan Leigh joined the team at Tong from Leeds Bradford Airport and is looking forward to increasing Tong’s reach to online visitors locally and nationally. Of the move, he said: “Developing our online presence and growing our e-commerce site are key strategic roles going forward and I look forward to working with the committed marketing team to deliver growth in both areas.”

Former Organisational Development Manager Carrie joins the senior management team after consulting for Tong Garden Centre and is proud of the way that Tong embraces family friendly working: “Tong has worked hard to place a great level of importance around finding a healthy work/home balance - they understand the importance of things like a children’s sports day!”

Animal lover Emma joined Tong from a local steel fabrication company and is enjoying the challenge of leading the accounts team and the rewards of the food in the restaurant and the food hall, “although my waistline doesn’t agree!” she joked.

Of the appointments, Managing Director, Mark Farnsworth said: “We’re delighted to welcome Leigh, Carrie and Emma to team Tong. They have joined us at an exciting time in Tong’s development as we plan to make further improvements to the centre to drive future growth and recruitment.”

Tong Garden Centre is one of Yorkshire’s biggest garden centres with 110,000 square feet of retail space and parking for up to 1,000 cars.