Meet the Team
Welcome to Hall's online, the home of GardenSite. We are an independently run business with two garden centres, an aquatic superstore, an Interflora florist and a fully e-commerced Website.
Hall's Garden Supplies established its first garden centre in 1952 in the centre of Castle Bromwich. In 1959 the centre moved 500 yards down the road to its current address at 209 Chester Road.
In 1958 a second larger centre opened in Sutton Coldfield and through the 1960s the two centres expanded offering aquatics, greenhouses and a full range of garden supplies.
In March 1967 a Florist shop was opened in Hurst Lane, Castle Bromwich offering local and International deliveries through the Interflora network. This site is directly opposite the site of our original garden centre.
GardenSite was launched in October 1999 with the simple principle of offering the same personal service and value for money that we have always offered through our traditional retail outlets.
We are still a family run business that believe in offering our customers the best service possible. We look forward to seeing you.
The Partners
Robert Hall
Robert is the Senior Partner in the business and has been on board for - well many years! He worked the streets of London as a professional photographer, shooting the covers of pop groups for their albums.
Robert has pushed the business forward into the 21st Century still maintaining the excellent service that the group has always offered. In October 99, under Roberts direction GardenSite was first launched. Seven years later business is booming, profits have been invested and his team have launched GardenSite's new database driven site.
Simon Whitehead
Simon has been an integral part of the team since 1984.
He can easily turn his hand to anything, his artistry and brain power is legendary within the company.
Simon enjoys his long distance sun holidays but can also be found hiking in the Bavarian alps. Coincidently, this is always at the time of the October Beer Fest.
Simon's forte within the site has got to be our range of Log Cabins to which he can answer almost any question.
Andrew Hall
Andrew was born into a world of fish, fountains and ponds! Based at our Sutton Coldfield Garden Centre he heads up the team of aquatic staff.
Andrew has a great passion and love for cars, and can always be found with a bucket and sponge on a Sunday afternoon. Back in the days before settling down Andrew would be cruising at an altitude of 4534 over to the Far East where his love of travelling first stemmed.
With over 35 years of experience Andrew is always at hand to offer his professional advise.
David Hall
David has grown up with the Garden Centres playing a big part of his life. He is based at our Sutton Coldfield Garden Centre where he looks after the horticultural side of the business.
David has a great love for photography and can always be found wondering the grounds with a camera!
He is also a keen ornithologist and can name a bird purely from its call.
David is currently under-going computer lessons and will soon be able to navigate his way through the site!
David Coton
David began working for the Garden Centre in 1999 as a part time aquatic sales assistant. Juggling both work and education he went on to study at Coventry University and gained an Honours Degree in Computer Science.
After gaining his degree he joined the team on a full time basis taking care of the Aquatics side of the business and has recently been involved in the major re-development of GardenSite.
Management Team
Nathan Dodd
Nathan has been part of the team since October 2010. His passion and enthusiasm for gardening are well known amongst his friends and family and started at any early age, working weekends and holidays at the garden centre. Before joining, Nathan was the Farm Manager at Jimmy's Farm in Suffolk where he helped develop it as a visitor attraction by building a Butterfly House and developing the gardens at the farm, amongst other things. Nathan has worked in both the private and public sectors, managing national projects on behalf of the government, he brings this experience to his role.
Paul Illsley
Paul started working for the Garden Centre in 1990 as a part time assistant and is now our Aquatic Store Manager. His passion for hard work has made him into the person he is today. He works along side Andrew in the Aquatics Centre keeping the staff motivated and pushing the centre forward, bringing new innovative ideas and plans.
Paul is also part of our maintenance team, this takes up a lot of his time but he enjoys the challenges that are put his way. His most recent achievement has been to design and install our new marine fish department, which has been a great success! As part of the aquatic team, Paul is always ready to share his technical expertise.
Dan Saul
Dan joined Hall's over four and a half years ago from Newlands Garden Centre in Birmingham. Dan is usually your first point of contact when you call or email the website. With a wealth of general gardening knowledge specialises in greenhouses and log cabins. Dan is also our resident international expert when it comes to arranging deliveries to Ireland and Europe.
