King Street Festival enjoys record crowds

6th Jun 2018

Sunny weather, the return of Manchester’s Flower Show and a host of pop-up bars, retail offers and street activities brought a record number of people to the area for this year’s King Street Festival, with over 50,000 people enjoying the festivities over the weekend, a 16% increase versus the same event weekend in 2017.

Coordinated by the Manchester BID, Manchester’s Business Improvement District, the festival celebrates the past, present and future of Manchester’s heritage retail destination. With events extending across both Lower and Upper King Street, the street was filled with live music, al fresco dining, a craft ale bar, pop-up prosecco and coffee carts, and a whole host of VIP shopping experiences.

Since the event’s inception in 2016, the weekend has consistently brought around 20,000 extra people to the area, which is a +65% uplift on a standard, non-event weekend.

This year the Sunday saw a 47% increase in footfall, with the beautiful sunny weather.

New for 2018 were The Conversation Stage featuring Dave Haslam on his days DJing at the Hacienda, alongside history talks and food and drink demos.

‘The Winners Table’ saw groups of friends and families who’d won a festival competition dine amongst the flowers, treated to complimentary meals by El Gato Negro, Rosso, Grafene, Browns, Chaophraya and Mr Thomas’s Chop House.

The Manchester Flower Show, a popular and prestigious annual event which dates back to the 1950’s, returned to the city, with floral takeovers of the bus stops, lamp posts and car parking bays all along King Street.

Ahead of the summer Bee in the City public art trail, which launches on 23 July, visitors to the festival were also given the chance to get up close and personal with one of the huge, bee-shaped sculptures at the Bee in the City Bee Preview on Lower King Street.

Over 50 retail brands took part including Cath Kidston, Charles Tyrwhitt, DKNY, Hobbs, Jigsaw, Karen Millen, Kuoni, Kiehls, Rapha, The White Company and Virgin Money Lounge to name a few.

Jane Sharrocks, Manchester BID Chair says: “Collaborative working, willing and enthusiastic partners, some incredible creativity and wonderful weather proved to be the perfect ingredients for a record-breaking weekend at this year’s King Street Festival. The return of the Flower Show brought the street to life alongside The Conversation Stage and a fantastic line-up of speakers and performers, and wherever you looked, there were people enjoying themselves, which is what this festival is all about.

“King Street’s resurgence in recent years is truly something to celebrate and to see footfall figures go through the roof this year is testament to the hard work which goes into making this event a success. This iconic street has so much to offer and this weekend goes a long way to showcasing the variety of brands and operators we have here.”

Many thanks to all our suppliers and partners. See you next year.

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