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
A Withington boozer has been named ‘Pub of the Year’ in South Manchester for 2026
Danny Jones
A pub in Withington has just been named the best pub in the South Manchester area for 2026, as the area continues to back CAMRA and proper boozers.
It’s not the first time they’ve picked up this kind of gong either.
Technically, it’s picked up the award for ‘Pub of the Year for Stockport and South Manchester’, but the venue itself sits on the edge of Withy and the outskirts of Fallowfield.
Operated by legendary local business, Hydes Brewery, they claim the trophy after having just missed out on the top spot in 2025, coming second behind The Crown in Heaton Mersey.
Not this time, though, as the Hydes pub located along Wilmslow Road won this year’s prize by some distance, in fact.
The Salford-born beer makers obviously have lots of sites all over Greater Manchester, many of whom regularly pick up monthly Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) awards – not to mention collecting a fair few annual ones – The Vic in Withington is one thought to have been long overdue for the grand prize.
Beloved by regulars and other nearby residents in and around the borough alike, the local community believe this place to be much more than just another watering hole.
For example, it’s been celebrated for its diversity and grassroots work throughout the area, with the team receiving praise for their extensive charitable efforts, such as with the Mero’s World Foundation.
The organisation was established by native Manc mum, Kelly Brown, in memory of her son Rhamero West, who was tragically stabbed to death in Manchester in 2021 at the age of 16; the charity aims to combat knife crime and support youth in the community through various initiatives.
As for The Vic, they’ve helped support the cause for many years, raising vital funds through their New Year’s Eve ticket sales, raffles, and with the management team taking on multiple athletic and endurance challenges on behalf of the cause.
Put simply, husband and wife landlords, Alyson and Paul Mitchell, are absolute legends.
Commenting on the win, Alyson said in a statement: “We’re so proud to win this award, and it is a real honour to be named the best pub in the region by CAMRA. We love what we do, but we couldn’t do it without our amazing team and the incredible support and top-quality ales we receive from Hydes.
“The Victoria is a truly special place for us, and we genuinely have the best customers you could ask for, from students to our local regulars. Winning this year after coming so close previously proves that our collective hard work has really paid off.”
Aside from serving a regular lineup of five or five Hydes cask beers, showing all the games on the box, and generally becoming a bit of a cornerstone of the community, Vic customers also helped raise £1,000 for the Withington Civic Society to install a much-needed community defibrillator outside the premises.
These are the kinds of things we want to hear happening in public houses across the ten boroughs, and it’s yet another instance of South Manchester, specifically, enjoying its moment in the sud-soaked sun.
Manchester City win first Women’s Super League title in a decade
Danny Jones
After a decade of hope and hard work, Manchester City have finally won the Women’s Super League once again in a huge moment for the local club.
Lifting not just their first division title in 10 years, but only their second WSL trophy since the modern female football era began in 2010, it felt like only a matter of time to many supporters.
Ending a six-year Chelsea supremacy, this is also manager Andrée Jeglertz’s first at the helm of Man City’s women’s team, who arrived at the club with a strong silverware record at the start of this season.
These were the scenes at home base as one key result sealed their status as champions:
— Manchester City Women (@ManCityWomen) May 6, 2026
City Women secured the WSL title following third-placed Arsenal’s 1-1 draw against Brighton on Wednesday evening.
They even managed to do so with a game to spare and a six-point gap over the west London club, which has won so much over the past few years.
Speaking in an interview with club media after confirmation of the win, captain and Euro 2025-winning Lionesses defender, Alex Greenwood, said: “[It feels] absolutely incredible. “A moment – we as a team, me personally – us as a club has waited so long for”.
“An incredible moment, it’s an incredible feeling. I’m so glad we got to spend this moment together as a group. Just an absolutely incredible feeling.”
With fans watching both at home, along with the first team themselves, the celebrations have already begun as the team shared a look back at how they got here.
You can see the recap posted on social media in full below.
Commenting on his latest accolade, the Swedish head coach added in a full club statement: “There’s never been doubt about the talent in the group, but there is something else about talking about being winners and champions. We started that early, and we believed in that. That’s led us through this year.
“It hasn’t been easy; it’s been hard work every day, but we had a strong belief that we could be sitting here in May and be champions. That is the first thing, and we definitely deserve it.”
Congratulations to the Cityzens on a well-deserved and long-awaited WSL title; could this be the start of another sporting dynasty of dominance over in East Manchester? Only time will tell…
In other news around the Etihad Campus, the women’s, EDS and academy team stadium is also set to host the final of the FA Youth Cup later this month.
Daisy Jackson -
30th May 2022 
