Portishead has won gold at the national finals of Britain in Bloom.
The town’s volunteer group, Portishead in Bloom, was graded gold in the Coastal category of the RHS Britain in Bloom UK Finals 2026, announced at a ceremony at Rochdale Town Hall on 20 October.
Run by the Royal Horticultural Society, the finals judge towns, villages and cities on horticultural excellence, environmental care and community engagement.
Portishead was one of seven coastal places in the final, alongside North Berwick in Scotland, which won the category, Ansdell in Lancashire, Dover, Alderney and St Helier in Jersey.
How Portishead got there
Places reach the UK Finals by being put forward from their regional competition, and Portishead was chosen by South West in Bloom.
The group has entered South West in Bloom for 29 years and has won gold there every year since 2008, apart from 2020 when judging was cancelled, it says on its website.
This year it also took gold in South West in Bloom’s Champion of Champions class for places of more than 10,000 people, along with the Urban Communities Trophy and the Budge Social Media Trophy.
At the same regional awards, High Down School in Portishead won the Viridor School Composting Trophy.
Volunteers look after beds and gardens across the town, from Rodmoor Gardens, the Town Garden and the Old Mill to Station Road, West Hill and the Millennium Garden.
In September, 21 volunteers turned out for one work party in Rodmoor Gardens, weeding, deadheading and planting bulbs for next year, according to the group’s newsletter.
Businesses sponsor the blue tubs along the High Street, and the group said “the RHS judges were all impressed by this community effort”.
Its sewers are now repairing the town’s summer flags and making new designs for 2027, after “the unusual amount of sun caused more fading than we usually experience”.
Open Gardens and work parties
Portishead’s last national gold before this year was in 2022, in the Large Towns category, and the group also won national gold in 2014, 2016 and 2017.
Its Open Gardens weekend, which pays for much of the planting across the town, returns on 5 and 6 June 2027, and the group is asking residents who would open their garden to email it.
Work parties run from 9.30am to 11.30am, and the group says no experience is needed: “We are a cheerful and welcoming bunch of people!”
What is your favourite spot in Portishead for flowers? Tell us in the comments.
Have your say