The Prince of Wales pub in Putney has been named the borough’s best business in bloom at the Wandsworth in Bloom awards last week.
The pub won the Best Business in Bloom prize in the council’s annual gardening competition, which is open to residents, schools, businesses and community groups across Wandsworth and took entries until July.
The winners were announced at the Old English Garden in Battersea Park, with music from the Malteserz Jazz Band, seven local young people. The ceremony was held there courtesy of Thrive, the competition’s partner.
Guests picked one winner themselves. After looking at displays of every finalist, they voted the People’s Choice award to Celia Carling, who also won Best Balcony or Container Garden. She was the only person to win twice.
Best in Show went to Marilia Bento, and All Saints Church won Most Biodiverse. The Mayor of Wandsworth, Cllr Emmeline Owens, presented all three special awards.
Three of the prizes are set aside for council tenants and leaseholders, who compete in their own categories for balconies, private gardens and community gardens.
Every winner took home a trophy, a gardening voucher and a packet of wildflower seeds harvested in the borough. Every finalist was given a window sticker marking them as a 2026 finalist.
The full list of winners
- Best Business in Bloom: The Prince of Wales pub, Putney
- Best Allotment Plot: Guy Dimond and Susan Low, Beatrix Potter Allotments
- Best Balcony or Container Garden: Celia Carling
- Best Community Food Growing Site: The Penwith Potager (Bethany Cofer)
- Best Community Facility Garden: Edgecombe Hall Estate Community Garden
- Best Front Garden: Fiona Churchhouse
- School in Bloom: Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Primary School, Battersea
- Council tenants and leaseholders, Best Balcony or Container Garden: Joao Amaral
- Council tenants and leaseholders, Community Facility Garden: Carey Gardens
- Council tenants and leaseholders, Best Private Garden: Lynn Clark
- Best in Show: Marilia Bento
- Most Biodiverse: All Saints Church
- People’s Choice: Celia Carling
The competition was sponsored by Krinkels UK, the company that looks after Wandsworth’s parks and open spaces under a six-year council contract that began in February 2025. This was its second year backing the awards.
Questions about the competition, including next year’s, go to wandsworthinbloom@wandsworth.gov.uk.
Putney’s other garden awards
Wandsworth in Bloom is the council’s own competition, now in its second year, and covers the borough only. It is separate from London in Bloom, which runs awards across the capital on behalf of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Britain in Bloom campaign.
Putney’s own contest, the Putney Society’s Make Putney Bloom, needs no entry form. Its judges walk 20 central Putney streets looking for the best front gardens, with pots and window boxes counting where there is no garden, and hand out Gold, Silver and Bronze awards.
The Prince of Wales is not the first Putney pub to be recognised for its flowers. In the Society’s 2022 competition, the Jolly Gardeners on Lacy Road won a Gold, and Norroy Road was named the most floriferous street.
Last October the Society itself was rated Outstanding, the top of five levels, in London in Bloom’s It’s Your Neighbourhood scheme. The scheme assesses community gardening groups without ranking them against each other, and groups that hold the top level for three years running can go on to receive a National Certificate of Distinction.
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