There’s just days to go until Manchester will be filled with beautiful blooms as The Manchester Flower Show makes its return.
The huge event coincides with the Jubilee celebrations and the four-day bank holiday weekend.
This year, the popular flower displays will include a Jubilee Trail to celebrate the Queen’s 70-year reign.
10 specially-created, Royal-inspired installations will appear around town thanks to The Manchester Flower Show, brought to the city by Manchester BID.
The full map of the Jubilee Trail is below, so you can walk your way through all the photo opportunities and beautiful displays.
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Beyond the official trail, shop windows, squares and statues will also be given botanical makeovers.
The Manchester Flower Show will take place between 2 and 5 June – you can find out more at themanchesterflowershow.com.
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The 10 Jubilee Trail displays to look out for at The Manchester Flower Show
The Crown
This huge planter will be filled with a mix of tropical palms and jewel-like English flowers.
You’ll find the crown-shaped structure in the Arndale outside Next, designed by Decordia.
Changing of the Guard
This new display will transport you to London without leaving St Ann’s Square.
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FROG Flowers will install a display near Watches of Switzerland that will feature a Buckingham Palace guard’s hut, Trafalgar Square lions, and a very British show of red, white and blue flowers.
Queen Bee
One of the bee sculptures from the Wild in Art Bee in the City art trail has been upcycled and covered in artificial flowers for The Manchester Flower Show.
A real flower crown on the bee’s head has been designed by local florist Frog Flowers. You’ll find it upstairs in the Arndale, near Wilko.
The Crown Jewels
A throne surrounded by fresh and dried flowers – including delphiniums, roses, peonies, hydrangeas, alliums and agapanthus – will appear at the Royal Exchange.
If you snap a photo with it, tagging @verdurefloraldesign and @royalexchangemanchester (make sure you’re following both accounts), you could win a £100 voucher to spend with Verdure Floral Design.
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Queen of Pop
Heading outside the Arndale now to New Cathedral Street, which will be taken back to the 1960s for a real taste of flower power.
Step through the Pop Art arch to find planters and wheelbarrows overflowing with blooms, inspired by Andy Warhol’s portraits of Queen Elizabeth II.
Horse Play
The Queen’s passion for horses will be celebrated with another display, this time a horse made of twisted willow leaping over a gate.
Artist Sarah Hayes will also create flower-filled drinking troughs at its base – you can see it at the Cross Street End of King Street.
The Ju-bee-lee Garden
Purple is the colour of the Jubilee, but it’s also the colour that attracts bees.
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So the Ju-bee-lee Garden will be filled with purple lupins, delphiniums, lavender, salvias and verbena to draw in our buzzing pals to the site on Upper King Street.
The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Urban Garden
St Ann’s Square will host a centrepiece of The Manchester Flower Show – an urban garden that’s both very now, and also very old.
With seven aged oak posts (one for each decade the Queen has been on the throne), cottage garden flowers, and three native trees, this garden invites you to explore its dappled shade and pretty colours.
The Jubilee Kiosk
Making a return this year will be The Manchester Flower Show’s red telephone box, which explodes with beautiful blooms.
It’s a perfect photo opportunity down on King Street, near Deansgate.
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The Commonwealth Tuk-Tuk
As a nod to the Commonwealth, a tuk-tuk nicknamed Queenie will be adorned with blue and purple flowers, grown just across the border in Cheshire.
It will appear on New Cathedral Street, near the entrance to M&S and Selfridges.
Featured image: Manchester BID
Manchester
Green Island Festival and Nell’s team up for bank holiday street party in Northern Quarter next month
Emily Sergeant
Green Island Festival is teaming up with pizza pros Nell’s and taking over the Northern Quarter for a big street party early next month.
For one day only, Edge Street will be locked off and a ‘fiesta’ will be taking over.
This early May bank holiday weekend, Green Island Festival will be linking up with Manchester’s favourite New York-style pizza merchants, Nell’s, for a special street party takeover right in the heart of the Northern Quarter.
Set to take over from midday on Saturday 2 May, families are first invited to join in on the bank holiday fun, as Born to be Wild Child – celebrated for their family-friendly parties – will be first up, encouraging all daytime ravers to get down early doors with their little ones.
Deptford George then takes the reins afterwards with his signature blend of soulful house, disco, funk and deeper electronic music, while Manc heavyweights Sprechen are guaranteed to bring a mixture of groove, soul, and energy with no limits.
Into the evening, Manchester-based collective Me Gusta will be taking things up a notch, so you can expect to hear sounds ranging from Afro-Latin and Caribbean, to Middle Eastern musical diaspora.
Closing the street party is La Noche, who again, will be bringing the best of Afro and Latin music to the streets of the city.
Green Island Festival and Nell’s are teaming up for bank holiday street party in the Northern Quarter next month / Credit: Supplied | The Manc Group
All day long, Nell’s famous New York-style pizza slices and pies will be available to feast on, as will Yard & Coop’s legendary buttermilk fried chicken, burgers, wings by order.
And then to wash it all down with, RIPE Beer are also getting involved, so partygoers can sip on delicious pints of beer as they dance the night away right through to 9pm.
Green Island x Nell’s Bank Holiday Street Party is landing on Edge Street from 12-9pm on Saturday 2 May, and it’s completely free to attend with no booking needed – just turn up on the day.
Featured Image – Supplied
Manchester
‘If only he was here’: Peter Hook reflects on Ian Curtis as Joy Division join Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Danny Jones
We were lucky enough to play a part in a bit of music history (albeit only a small one) this week, as we had the privilege of chatting with the one and only Peter Hook of Joy Division and New Order, as the pair were finally admitted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
A long overdue bit of recognition, if you ask, but a momentous day nonetheless.
Chatting with Hooky and a long-time friend, collaborator, and beloved Manchester-based DJ, Graeme Park, in the aftermath of being named in the ‘Class of 2026’, he was visibly moved and honoured by the announcement. Here’s what he had to say…
Joking from the off by repeating Graeme’s initial question, “How does it feel?” (an absolute tap-in, that one), the 70-year-old bassist and co-founder of both iconic Greater Manchester groups admitted that they “had a couple of false starts”, to put it mildly, but went on to add: “we can only thank our fans.”
Confessing there has been somewhat of a mixed reaction about “what it means” to them and/or in the industry these days, he made it clear that on a personal level, it’s still a huge moment.
Put simply, he said: “Without the fans, we’d all be nothing.”
He also went on to praise the sort of no-nonsense, DIY and unapologetic approach of the Manc music scene, quipping: “You know, what would Simon Cowell have said about Ian Curtis, Bez, Shaun [Ryder] – Ian Brown, for god’s sake?!”
Acknowledging that while no one was necessarily an “accomplished singer” (often the case when you start early and just pursue a passion), his caveat was that “they had heart and soul” and “they embody something deep within us all that has lasted and will continue to last.”
Noting a de facto ‘Renaissance’ that a few names have enjoyed – especially following the passing of certain notable figures – he believes, rather, that they never went anywhere and that Northern crowds and beyond have helped those songs stretch to three, four, even five different generations.”
He’s not wrong: they’ve never stopped connecting with audiences, and they NEVER will.
Once more, it was an absolute joy (again, pardon the pun) to chat with Peter and Parky, who clearly haven’t lost their love for each other, nor this business – even after all these decades.
Congratulations to both bands, Hooky, Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris, Gillian Gilbert, Tom Chapman, Phil Cunningham, as well as every session musician who’s ever played these tunes and kept them alive.
Last but not least: forever and always, rest in peace, Ian Curtis.
Daisy Jackson -
30th May 2022 
