Heartbreak as 150-year-old UK flower show cancelled after Rachel Reeves tax hike (2025)

The flower show has been an annual tradition for 150 years (Image: Getty)

Residents in a Shropshire market town have been left in shock and businesses "thousands" of pounds out of pocket after a popular local event was suddenly cancelled. The Shrewsbury Flower Show has been a local tradition for 150 years, with exhibitors from across the country descending on the picturesque patch of English countryside to showcase common and exotic floral arrangements. The two-day event, which has been a calendar mainstay for many of the town's 70,000-odd population, won't go ahead this August, however, after organisers announced it had been axed due to rising costs and required extra spending on security.

It was first held by the Shropshire Horticultural Society back in 1875 but has met with hiccups in recent years after being cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a security alert also triggering a mass evacuation and eventual cancellation in 2023. As well as rising operational costs, local officials pointed to an increase in security costs, seemingly in line with Martyn's Law, which became enshrined this month and is designed to ensure that public events are protected from terrorism through increased security practices.

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Businesses in the market town rely on the flower show for custom (Image: Getty)

Society Chairman Maelor Owen said: "We have struggled to put on a show that was financially viable for several years. Over the past few years, strenuous efforts have been made to reduce costs and boost attendence. [But] regrettably, the loss incurred by the society in staging the 2024 show was significantly greater than we had anticipated - by way of example, we spent over £150,000 on security and barriers."

"Recent changes to National Insurance and the minimum wage, combined with the cost-of-living crisis, mean that further extensive losses would be incurred should we proceed with the 2025 show. Such losses are simply no longer sustainable," she added.

While Mr Owen didn't say the event would be cancelled indefinitely, he confirmed that it wouldn't be going ahead this year and that the society would "look very carefully at [its] long-term viability" before making an announcement later in 2025.

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The annual event is held near Quarry Park in Shrewsbury (Image: Getty)

Businesses in Shrewsbury said they had been left substantially out of pocket by the sudden news, while locals expressed "shock" at the precarious position of a much-loved local custom.

Danielle Ditella, who runs The Loopy Shrew restaurant and Darwin's Townhouse B&B said she could lose up to £10,000 in cancelled bookings as a result of the cancellation - with a decent slice of her custom linked to the event.

"All of our accommodation was fully booked as a direct result of the flower show," she told the BBC.

Nineteen-year-old Maddie Hards added that she had grown up attending the show and was "in shock" to see it called off.

"I think it's a big thing for Shrewsbury not to have it, you think of Shrewsbury and you think of the flower show," she said. "I thought [it] was some fake news thing originally, and then I aaw the statement from the horticultural society. It's unreal, it's mad."