Our ambition for Humber Bridge Garden Centre was to bring together a wonderful group of people to create the perfect lifestyle destination in a unique location with incredible history. Our dedicated team are experts in horticulture, pottery, hospitality and home decor, offering you unrivalled choice, service and advice from people who really know their stuff.
We - the Harrison family - have owned the site since 2005 and have always felt we had something special in the historic location of the last remaining traditional tile works in the country, set against the spectacular backdrop of the Humber Bridge and the river itself. Over the past 17 years, we have sympathetically developed the site into a place to relax and enjoy great food with friends, to get inspiration for home and garden, and to soak up the beautiful natural environment and breathtaking man-made structures that surround us.
Arriving at the Humber Bridge Garden Centre for the first time leaves a lasting impression on everyone who visits.
Come and see us. We can’t wait to welcome you!
A rich history
This is the latest venture for us on a site which is steeped in the history of an industry which has shaped the town of Barton-Upon-Humber. The William Blyth tile works was originally established in 1840, taking advantage of the abundant deposits of alluvial clay on the banks of the river Humber. When the Brick Tax was abolished in 1850, the tile and brick industry expanded so that by the early 1890s around 20 manufacturers operated in the Barton area, making it the brick and tile capital of Britain.
Today, William Blyth is the only one of its kind that survives, at the Hoe Hill tile yard and Far Ings tile works, where Humber Bridge Garden Centre is located.
This unique position as a hand-made tile works making a premium heritage product means that William Blyth tiles are in demand for historic houses and estates, including the Royal Family’s Sandringham Estate and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Anmer Hall.
Our family bought the two William Blyth sites in 2005 and immediately invested in the manufacturing processes, grounds and buildings, many of which are grade II-listed and considered of national importance. In 2010, we opened The Old Tile Works restaurant and the Artisan Village, which proved highly popular until a huge tidal surge left much of the land flooded.
The site was restored and once again proved popular with visitors over the decade, as we began drawing up plans to develop the site further, securing permission to create the garden centre in a way that is sympathetic to our historic buildings and the beautiful landscape that surrounds us.
Plans were in place to develop a garden centre on the site when the Covid pandemic hit and operations were brought to a temporary halt. Following this, work began on the garden centre in the summer of 2021. We opened just before Easter 2022.
We are now delighted to welcome customers – and their dogs – to enjoy the region’s newest lifestyle destination.
