The best: Things to do in Manchester this Spring Bank Holiday weekend

Taking over the city centre for another year with a sprawling celebration of brilliant botany and vibrant colour, The Manchester Flower Festival brings four days of breathtaking floral trails, artisan markets, creative workshops, alfresco dining and family fun.

Highlights include stunning displays that honour the city’s industrial roots and its
legendary music scene, along with creative interpretations of New York, Paris, Mumbai, Amsterdam, and Marrakech.

The festival stretches across town, with art, flowers and events at the Arndale, Printworks, New Cathedral Street, St Ann’s Square, The Royal Exchange Manchester, Exchange Square and King Street.

Check out the full programme below.

Whether it’s a quick coffee pitstop, optimistic sunbathing or partying until nightfall, Manchester’s wildly popular new outdoor spot at St. John’s hosts weekend-long party featuring DJs, drinks and more, presented by Caravan and Trading Route.

Head down to the reimagined creative quarter, a stone’s throw from Stables Tavern and Project Halcyon’s new outdoor terrace, for a summery day session lasting until 9pm Saturday and Sunday, and 6pm on Monday.

Promising a wildly spektakular weekend of circus, cabaret and Bavarian-inspired abandon from Thursday through Monday, Albert Schloss celebrate the Bank Holiday with DAZ CIRCUS BIZARRE.

Revellers at Manchester’s favourite nocturnal bar and beer hall can expect all-night entertainment, midnight circus shows and a packed weekend programme including Rise + Shine breakfast sessions and the legendary Sunday Service, punctuated by an enormous roast with lashings of thick gravy.

Running throughout the weekend, manchester jazz festival rounds off its ten-day city-wide extravaganza with performances from Anna Chandler-King at Flawd, Small Print at Stoller Hall and Wrap Party Jam at Matt & Phreds, alongside saxophonist Jasmine Myra, Alina Bzhezhinska’s HipHarp Collective and Jazz Jamaica playing Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively as part of Band on the Wall’s colossal closing party.

This year also sees the manchester jazz festival partnering with Aviva Studios, home of Factory International, for the very first time. To mark three decades of the event, organisers have curated a special exhibition Aviva that takes a closer look at the history of Manchester’s longest-running music festival, with archival photos, footage, memorabilia and more on display.

Find out more HERE, and check out the full programme below.

Featuring dancers, performers, confetti blasts, lasers, parachute games, giant balloons, face painting and a licensed bar for overstimulated parents, Raver Tots heads back to Freight Island on Bank Holiday Monday with another spectacular kid-friendly carnival for all ages.

Tickets are likely to sell out, so grab yours below.

Catch the final few days of Chorlton Arts Festival this weekend, with an endless array of exhibitions, workshops and performances taking places across various venues throughout the South Manchester neighbourhood.

Check out art showcases by ArtSocial at the Carlton Club followed by an evening of live music, a visual tribute to West Didsbury and Chorlton AFC at the club ground, photography with the West Didsbury Astronomical Society and Chorlton Methodist church and much more.

See the full weekend programme below.

Returning to Great Northern’s hidden terrace for a special fifth anniversary instalment, Deansgate Mews Festival kicks off summer in the city with three free days of live music, pop-up markets, food and drink across four stages and several acclaimed bars and restaurants.

This year’s edition features 40+ talented artists and creatives, including indie rock outfit Strawberry Lemonade, rock band Delights, and rising stars MALCOM. Also performing across the weekend will be The Maddocks, Tommy Ball, Michael Gallagher, Danny Darlington, Dreaming of Citra and many more.

The Mews’ restaurants and bars, including Another Hand, Siam Smiles and The Mews, will be setting up outdoor seating so that visitors can enjoy al fresco drinking and dining throughout the course of the festival. Meanwhile, a Mini Mews Festival, hosted by Little Northerners, will be taking over the Great Northern’s atrium.

Find out more below.

The legendary booze-fuelled rework of the traditionally sedate numbers competition takes over Albert Hall once again with a Bank Holiday special, promising another riot of cheesy sing-a-longs, uninhibited raving, dance-offs, prizes, cash and free-flowing drinks in a night of nostalgic hedonism on Fri 23 May.