Liverpool florist creates a gorgeous ‘Christmas decoration pub crawl’ around Hope Street

Every Christmas day or night out needs a gorgeous backdrop, and one Liverpool florist is behind some of the city’s most stunning seasonal makeovers.

Booker Flowers in south Liverpool have created fabulous festive transformations in the Georgian Quarter and on Lark Lane – including one that’s been a real showstopper.

Decorations at The Dog & Collar pub are already a strong contender for this year’s most photographed frontage.

Its arch of red and gold parcels tumbling around the doorway, Santa and traditional spruce and twinkling lights, have made it a star attraction on Hope Street.

The installation took a team of five 10 hours to put in place, working solidly from 7am until 5pm to get it all up and completed in a day.

Now it’s taking pride of place in what Booker Flowers owner Gemma Wakerley describes as “a Christmas decoration pub crawl around Hope Street!”

She said:

“You could go from the Dog & Collar, to Papillon, Queen of Hope Street, the White Hart, Ye Cracke, down to the Pilgrim and Mayflower – all within easy walking distance of each other and all really nice pubs that we’ve decorated,”

For Gemma and her team, Christmas installing began as soon as Halloween was over, although preparation started back in January when the first designs were sketched out.

“We sit down with each client and go through the type of things they want,” she explains. “Sometimes they’re happy to let the building speak for itself and they just want spruce and lights to get the Christmassy feel, other times they want more.

“As a business we have a natural style so we tend to use proper spruce, pinecones etc, but we’re guided by the client. They might have a particular corporate colour they want to include, so for example Papillon on Hope Street has a butterfly theme and it’s a pink building so we always make sure we incorporate that into our decoration.

“Somewhere like the Mayflower next to the Pilgrim is more of a traditional pub so that design is more natural and in keeping with the venue. 

“And The Monro is pure Christmas magic, with large white wax apples and glittery pinecone garlands – that’s been getting a lot of attention.”

Most of Booker Flowers’ installations are exterior, but anyone eating at Villa Romana over the next few weeks will be able to enjoy them inside too because the restaurant’s arches are now draped with their festive garlands.

Gemma says the Dog & Collar decorations were inspired by a design the owners had seen in Manchester.

“They showed us photos and wanted something similar, so we sketched out a few ideas on their building and from there we worked out how many presents we needed to make.

“It’s their first Christmas so they wanted to make a big impression, and now they’ve got a reputation to upkeep next year!”

The installation itself took a full day, but there was a lot of preparation went into the design before it arrived on site.

“There are 50 giant presents and we made and hand-wrapped them all in the shop first,” says Gemma. 

“They’re not actually cardboard wrapped in paper, they’re wooden frames covered in fabric because they have to be able to withstand all weathers for two months and stay looking good. We did a few demo pieces to test them out that was what worked best.”

Although the task of transforming venues in time for the party season can be a bit cold and wet, Gemma says it’s one of the most fun times of the year to be involved with.

“We do have to go back and take some down in January which is quite an undertaking, and not quite as much fun, but everything goes to the recycling, gets chipped and goes back into the ground.

“Then we’re it’s time to start on next Christmas, and trying to better what we did the year before.”

Find out more about Booker Flowers here.

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