New drive-thru café and multiple business units proposed at Thatcham Garden Centre

A new development is being considered at Thatcham Garden Centre.

The proposal, made by applicant and site owner Paulin & Wilson Ltd, includes a new drive-thru café, a convenience store and six smaller commercial units with 53 car parking spaces across all units on mostly undeveloped land bordering Tull Way and the A4 roundabout.

West Berkshire Council has accepted the proposal in principle but requested the applicant change the layout of the buildings so they weren’t located so close to the site boundary, which it has done. It also removed the 12 petrol fuel pumps included in the original plans.

A full application has now been submitted which, if successful, will generate 55 new full-time jobs, the applicant has said.

A statement prepared on the applicant’s behalf read: “The final proposal protects landscape and visual amenity whilst securing a development which will diversify and complement the retail and commercial offer of the existing garden centre, helping to secure the future viability of the business as well as providing new employment opportunities.”

To access the drive-thru, vehicles would enter the garden centre from the A4 via an expanded two-lane system, turn left, travel round the building to order and then exit via the internal access road on to Tull Way.

New connections to existing foul and surface water sewers located within the site are also included within the plans to manage and reduce the flood risk posed by surface water runoff from the site.

The exact levels will be confirmed before the works begin.

A series of zebra crossings on the internal access are also proposed.

The existing caretaker’s bungalow will also be retained.

The council is due to decide on the application by Friday, May 9.

Thatcham Garden Centre reopened in October 2020 after undergoing a year-long closure for renovation.

Historically, the site was known as Thatcham Fruit and Flower Farm in the early 1900s and later as Henwick Fruit and Flower Farm.

It later transitioned into a mushroom farm, which lasted until 1982, then eventually evolved into the garden centre it is today.