Southport Flower Show Blooms with Over 50,000 Visitors
Thousands flock to Southport Flower Show for a celebration of floral beauty and family fun
50,000 visitors descended to year’s Southport Flower Show, sponsored by Halliwell Jones Kia Southport.
Victoria Park was transformed into a haven of Show Gardens, Grand Floral Marquee displays and Floral Art masterpieces. This year’s Brockhouse Gold Challenge Trophy winner for The Best Show Garden was awarded to James Comish and The Salopian Trophy for The Best Grand Floral Exhibit was Dibleys Nurseries.
Horticultural highlights also included amateur grower and plant society exhibitors, raised bed displays, honey, baking and preserves marquee and displays from local communities and charities.
This year’s Schools Design-a-Garden Competition, sponsored by Merseyrail, was a big addition to this year’s show. The Gardening Club at Trawden Forest Primary School was the winning design from 500 entries. Their design was judged and brought to life by Jason Williams - Cloud Gardener UK, Victoria Holden – Northern Lily and Bernard Pendleton – North West in Bloom and Sally Ralston - Merseyrail. The garden is now dismantled and being relocated to Farnborough Road Schools.
Celebrity guests include Emmerdale actor turned farmer Kelvin Fletcher and wife Liz from TV series Fletchers’ Family Farm, punk icon Toyah Willcox, wildlife cameraman and Strictly winner Hamza Yassin, Zack George – Steel from Gladiators, Christian Lewis from The Wilderness Family and children’s TV favourite Justin Fletcher.
Horticultural guests are ITV’s Love Your Garden’s David Domoney, Nick Bailey from BBC Gardeners’ World, Carole Baxter and George Anderson from BBC’s Beechgrove Garden and gardening experts, presenters and writers Martin and Jill Fish, who hosted The Potting Shed.
Cookery guests include This Morning chef Phil Vickery; Cherish Finden from Bake Off: The Professionals, television personality and chef Rosemary Shrager and Great British Bake Off Winner Nancy Birtwhistle.
Local venues hosting live cookery demonstrations in the Cookery Theatre, hosted by Brian Mellor and sponsored by Lancashire Tea and Nationwide Produce, also include Southport’s 600 Degrees, Tik Taco, Volare, Coast, JT Akshaya and Cake Corner; as well as Nord and Manifest from Liverpool.
A packed entertainment programme spanning the four days featured celebrity guest Q&A sessions in the Garden Theatre and live demonstrations in the Cookery Theatre. Live music performances on the Piazza Stage and an outdoor show arena hosting dog displays, birds of prey and horse shows.
New additions for 2025 included a children’s trail, mad science show, meet the alpacas and a pop-up book festival from Waterstones with some of our special guests meeting visitors and signing books.
The children’s trail, which was a huge success, featured:
The Kids’ Potting Shed, supported by Rotary Eco Group
Wetland Conservation, supported by Martin Mere
Forest School, supported by Gang of Elk
Scarecrow Festival, supported by Waterstones
Live Bee Hive/Bee exhibition, supported by National Museums Limited
Meet the Alpacas, supported by Natterjack Alpacas
Children’s Yoga, supported by Enchanted Fields
Doodle Wall
Tennis Skills with Sam Jalloh
Alan Adams, General Manger, said “This year’s show was one of the best yet! We were blessed with 4 days of good weather and we got the crowds in. There was so much on offer at this year’s show, it was lovely to see so many visitors enjoying the event. Special thanks to all the sponsors, exhibitors, traders, volunteers, contractors and the team for pulling together and putting on the best show ever. We are already looking forward to 2026”.
The show which is a registered charity (charity no. 100698) is the largest independent flower show in the country and will return next year on Thursday 20th– Sunday 23rdAugust 2026. Early bird tickets are now on sale. Visit our website for more informationwww.southportflowershow.co.uk.