This article has been updated.
Please see the latest article relating to the current plans for Chelsea 2021 here.
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The RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2021 will take place in May, with some changes to make allowances for Covid safety measures, it has been announced.
The Royal Horticultural Society has revealed that its May Flower Show at Chelsea will run over six days, as opposed to the usual five and there will be reduced visitor numbers.
Tickets are to go on sale to the public from 30 October and to RHS Members from 26 October. 140,000 people will be able to visit the show in 2021, in comparison with 168,000 people over five days in 2019. It will run from Tuesday 18 May to Sunday 23 May. Prices start at £66.75 for the day for a member.
- Here's everything you need to know about Chelsea Flower Show tickets
Increased measures for Chelsea 2021 include socially distanced queuing, extra parking/park and ride, enhanced cleaning and waste disposal,
cashless transactions where possible, increased monitoring to ensure safe distancing amongst visitors, masks in indoor areas and flexible ticket exchange for ticket holder experiencing symptoms.
There will also be fewer closed seated restaurants at the Show in 2021 and spaces will be made more open with table service.
Sue Biggs, the director general of the RHS said: “We plan our Shows 18 months in advance and have been planning and researching how to open the 2021 RHS Chelsea safely and securely for our visitors, partners and exhibitors since April this year. We have taken the time to get all our plans finalised and will now be consulting with exhibitors and supporting them further due to the changes we have had to make.
“As the world’s most famous gardening event, RHS Chelsea is vital for the horticultural industry, as well as having a huge impact on inspiring people to garden and grow, which is so important for everyone’s health and for the environment.
“Whilst we continue to live in uncertain times and May is a long way off, we believe these measures will mean we can safely run the Show, although we will of course be ready to react to any Government advice and if we sadly need to, will offer anyone who has booked a ticket a full refund.”
More announcements will come at the end of the month for highlights at RHS Malvern, Chelsea, Hampton and Tatton.
This year's Chelsea Flower Show was cancelled due to the pandemic and replaced with Virtual RHS Chelsea, which ran over a week in May.
