King Street Festival returns this weekend

Manchester’s fashionable King Street Festival returns on Saturday 1 & Sunday 2 June, celebrating the city’s most iconic shopping street since the 1800s. The annual festival, organised by Manchester’s Business Improvement District (Manchester BID),  celebrates King Street’s timeless architecture and rich history with a glorious weekend filled with alfresco dining, live music, a pop-up gin bar and cocktail trail, lawn games and family activities, historical tours, VIP shopping experiences and the return of the prestigious Manchester Flower Show.

King Street is home to over 50 stores, restaurants and hotels including Boodles, DKNY, Belstaff, Virgin Money Lounge, Jigsaw, Kiehls, Cath Kidston, Rosso, King Street Townhouse and this year’s festival travel sponsor, Kuoni, who will be giving away a luxury 5* holiday to Mexico, visit www.kuoni.co.uk/kingstreet to enter.

Visitors can get into the festival spirit with a whole host of events, exclusive discounts and competitions throughout the weekend from King Street’s stores, restaurants and bars including alfresco dining at Tast and El Gato Negro and gin tasting at Sam’s Chop House. I Love Manchester will be hosting its very own gin bar and the festival’s popular King Street Cocktail Trail returns with a range of summer cocktails created especially for the festival at Arcane, El Gato Negro, Grand Pacific, Flight Club, Sam’s Chop House, Thomas’ Chop House, Tast, Miller & Carter, Kala and Mash Tun, priced at £5 each.

Store activities include free tote bag making with ethical brand Patagonia on Lower King Street and complimentary shoe shining at Loake and with a big focus on family-friendly activities for 2019, there’s also lots to keep little (and big) kids busy. Fit for mini Kings and Queens, RHS Bridgewater’s floral crown making workshops will ensure everyone’s festival look is complete, plus there’s a life-sized 3D version of the timeless pen and paper favourite Hangman from kids street theatre and creative play geniuses Mufti Game and lawn games aplenty including giant chess, giant connect 4 and jenga.

This year’s festival also includes a special focus on Peterloo, two hundred years on, with historic tours by Jonathan Schofield and talks, poetry and storytelling at the Manchester Histories Festival Soapbox. And enjoy the sounds of summer live on the festival music stage with artists including Vivienne Lynsey, Yemi Bolatiwa, The Rubber Duck Orchestra, Helena Williams, Fifi La Mer, Harvey Brittain and Dee Olares.

Transforming King Street into a botanical paradise for its festival weekend, the Manchester Flower Show will see balconies, lamp posts, bus stops, shop windows and parking bays bloom with Flower Power themed floral installations from the region’s best floristry, produce and gardening talent, alongside a market of gardening products, outdoor accessories and flowers including stalls from Tib Street’s award-winning Flourish and indoor plant specialist Nonsense.

Doubling in size this year and supported by RHS Bridgewater, the event pays homage to the original Manchester Flower Show which began in 1955 and returned to the city last year after a 15 year hiatus. Must-see gardens and installations in the running for a coveted Manchester Flower Show rosette this year include a Magic Roundabout inspired garden, an iconic 1969 VW Beetle with a botanical twist, a retro floral bedroom with a hippy ?John Lennon and ?Yoko Ono inspired ‘bed-in for peace’ garden with an edible floral bed, a red rose carpet complete with models donning floral gowns and a Votes for Women garden inspired by the Suffragettes. Plus keep an eye out for this year’s bicycle entries – new for 2019 – which will be weaving their way throughout the festival.

Times may vary, visit kingstreetfestival.com for full listings and follow @kingstfestival for event updates.