A plant paradise will be created at Depot Mayfield in Manchester this month when the inaugural RHS Urban Show takes over.
The huge event – the charity’s first large-scale indoor show – has been created to celebrate the growing urban gardening movement.
Whether you’re cramming a tropical jungle onto your balcony or trying to bring a little plant life into your home, the RHS Urban Show will have exhibits that will educate and inspire you.
You can learn the secrets to growing happy houseplants, see vertical structures for awkward urban spaces, and explore a seven-garden vision for a greener city.
There’ll even be a horticultural exhibit celebrating the heyday of Manchester’s Hacienda days.
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The RHS Urban Show wants to answer the question of ‘what is urban gardening’ through this huge event, which will run between Thursday 18 and Sunday 21 April.
Major exhibits will be filling the gigantic industrial space at Depot Mayfield, like the RHS City Spaces: Cloudscape, by Manchester’s Cloud Gardener Jason Williams, which will challenge local authorities and developers to think and envision greener towns and cities.
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The inaugural RHS Urban Show in Manchester will be a plant-lover’s paradise
It will bring together four balconies, each facing north, south, east and west, plus a north-facing shaded patio, an urban farm, and a communal garden.
Created in collaboration with Manchester Metropolitan University’s Rise programme and Notcutts Garden Centre, RHS City Spaces: Cloudscape will showcase how to bring plants into your space, regardless of needs, microclimate, or budget.
Williams said: “The concept as a whole is an ambitious blueprint of how we can bring a city together. These are not show gardens, they are learning exhibits designed to teach residents, local authorities, retail and developers how we can all improve to make our towns and cities greener.”
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Four-time RHS Chelsea Flower Show medal-winners GrowTropicals will be explaining which houseplants – including rare and exotic ones – are best suited to which home environment.
Visitors to the RHS Urban Show will be able to learn the secrets to growing happy houseplantsThere’ll be exhibitions, talks, shopping opportunities and more at the RHS Urban Show in Manchester
They’ll group dozens of plants together, from shade-loving plants who’ll be happy in north-facing rooms, to those who love a bit of humidity, to the sun-worshippers begging for a sunny windowsill.
Midlands-based designer Amanda Grimes’ exhibit Pop Culture Planting: Punk Rockery, the New Wave and 24-Hour Party Planting, will be a two-part installation set over three years, showing a design at the time of planting, one year on and two years on.
Her aim is to give new and inexperienced gardeners the confidence and inspiration to ‘just go for it’ by showing visitors what they can expect as a garden develops naturally over time, even with poor soil or rubble.
She said: “Punk Rockery hits Manchester in the same way the Sex Pistols did in June 1976, though possibly with less swearing and a bigger audience.
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“That now-legendary gig was the spark that lit the touch paper of the whole Manchester New Wave music scene which included the Buzzcocks, Joy Division/New Order, The Fall, Magazine, The Smiths and Factory Records, and went on to inspire so many more.
“The installation is named in honour of all that creativity which was, and still is, uniquely Mancunian.
“24-Hour Party Planting is a celebration of Manchester’s thriving nightlife, restaurant and entertainment scene.
Garden designer Tom Wilkes-Rios dusts between leaves of succulents on his balcony garden ‘The Blue Garden’. Credit: RHS / Luke MacGregor
“It references the Happy Mondays’ track of the same name, and with it the hedonistic days of the Hacienda. It traces that legacy through to 2024 and the incredibly diverse, vibrant and endlessly creative energy of the Gay Village, Northern Quarter, Salford and beyond.”
The RHS Urban Show, sponsored by Mad About Land, also debuts ‘content cubes’ for gardeners with small spaces.
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That includes RHS Flower Show Tatton Park 2023’s People’s Choice and gold medal-winner Conal McGuire’s Urban Shade, which utilises modular ‘grow frames’ offering a flexible solution for growing in awkward urban spaces.
As well as all the exhibits to explore, there’ll be a programme of talks that will run through everything from cut flowers to juggling plant life with work and family life.
RHS-run workshops where you can make your own terrarium will be taking place, and you can join a free guided tour of the neighbouring Mayfield Park.
And you can browse through a variety of indoor and outdoor plants that you can take home with you, with pots, macrame, and even a new clothing range by Mad About Land for sale too.
Lex Falleyn, show manager for the RHS Urban Show, said: “Urban Gardening is diverse and dynamic and the inaugural RHS Urban Show is an exciting opportunity to explore the important role gardening plays in greening up cities.
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“We’ve chosen to work with a wide range of gardeners, from award-winning designers to community groups to enthusiasts who juggle gardening with day-to-day life. We hope this will bring a balance of relevant yet realistic advice to get people growing.”
The RHS Urban Show will take place at Depot Mayfield between Thursday 18 and Sunday 21 April. You can buy tickets here.
A dedicated anime, movie and gaming concert with a live orchestra is coming to Manchester
Danny Jones
Calling all self-proclaimed otakus, cinephiles and gamers: a huge concert experience will see dozens of musicians bring classic anime, film and gaming soundtracks and scores to life later this year, right here in Manchester.
The city is no stranger to events celebrating these beloved kinds of media, but you’ll struggle to find another bringing all of them together in one place.
Brought to us Mancs by KIN Music Entertainment, a locally founded arts, events and music label, this celebration of all things pop culture – and specifically, the music tied to it.
Entitled ‘The Kin & Fushigi Anime, Film & Videogame Orchestra’, this passionate collective serves as not only a platform for rising artists but also to hear some iconic sonic moments like never before.
KIN have created a large-scale live concert experience which will bring together a 25-piece pop orchestra made up of emerging professional performers and conservatoire graduates.
Aside from the impressive total of people behind this production to begin with, they also form an immersive hybrid orchestral and live band capable of bringing.
Speaking on the upcoming date, KIN Entertainment said in a statement: “We wanted to create the kind of live experience that many anime and videogame fans in Manchester have been waiting for — something cinematic, emotional and community-driven that brings these sound worlds to life with the energy of both an orchestra and a live band.”
Kin was founded by bassist, composer and ensemble performer Alejandro Urbina Diaz, who first brought his talents and wider interests over from Mexico to the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) here in the city centre at the age of 23.
Citing Manchester’s multiculturalism and cosmopolitan cultural fabric as a big part of his inspiration, he and his team have ended up carving out this niche for themselves, and now they’ll be playing this beloved music to Mancs at none other than the O2 Ritz.
Credit: KIN Music Entertainment (supplied via Academy Music Group Digital)
With new arrangements inspired by anime, cinematic and videogame culture, not to mention orchestral and even rock crossover twists – including both vocalist and rhythm sections, by the way – it’s set to be a highly unique experience that most will have never come across before.
This event itself is suitable for audiences aged 14+, although under-16s must be accompanied by an adult, and it’s taking place at the Ritz on Sunday, 26 July.
We’re not going to spoil any more details about the show for you, so which particular pieces of pop culture they reference will just have to be a surprise…
Featured Images — Publicity pictures (supplied via AMG Digital)
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You can now get Deep South-inspired BBQ dishes on Manchester’s Deansgate
Daisy Jackson
There’s a brand-new menu of smokehouse-style BBQ dishes being served up on a sunny terrace on Deansgate.
Motley, the neighbourhood bar and restaurant on the corner of John Dalton Street, has added an authentic smoker to its kitchen.
That means they’ve got a whole load of new dishes, slow-cooked over hickory wood, that are bringing a taste of a Deep South BBQ to Manchester city centre.
The smokehouse-style meats are all seasoned in-house and cooked for hours, for a perfect fall-off-the-bone experience.
It might be an authentic American smokehouse menu, but it’s firmly British too, with most products locally sourced.
You can now get Deep South-inspired BBQ dishes on Deansgate / Credit: The Manc Group
Motley are calling on local suppliers like Althams Butchers (established since 1856) for their meat, plus greengrocers R Noone and Son, and Cheshire Farm for their real dairy ice cream.
Signature dishes on the new menu at Motley include slow smoked brisket, seasoned in Motley’s signature rub before being slow-smoked for more than eight hours.
There’s also a beef short rib with a chimichurri sauce, and a pork belly strip that’s seasoned with sage and onion and finished with a panko breadcrumb crust.
And for the veggies, there’s a vegan smoked veg kebab with courgette, mushrooms, bell pepper, sweet corn and red onion drizzled with homemade BBQ sauce.
Motley has added an authentic smoker to its kitchen / Credit: The Manc Group
Prices across the board start from just £16, served with beef dripping fries, rainbow slaw, pickles and homemade beef gravy.
As for small plates, you can expect short rib bonbons, homemade corn bread, spicy chicken wings, bang bang cauliflower, mac and cheese, and frickles.
House favourites like steak, vegetable hash, salads, and burgers will remain on the Motley menu.
Victor Gonzalez, food and beverage manager at Motley, said: “Our new signature smoked dishes are all crafted and seasoned in-house then slow cooked for hours over hickory wood to create rich and smoky melt-in-your mouth flavours.
“From our slow-smoked brisket to our home-made sides, everything has been carefully crafted to bring an authentic taste of the deep south to Manchester and we can’t wait for guests to try it.”
Motley can be found at 2 John Dalton Street on the corner of Deansgate in the city centre.
Daisy Jackson -
5th April 2024 
