Petals of Piccadilly

The verdict

Petals of Piccadilly has survived twenty-seven years in Birmingham city centre retail, which is a harder thing to do than win a medal. The Piccadilly Arcade off New Street is a former picture house converted into a run of small shops, with a painted ceiling that is genuinely worth looking up at, and the florist has been in it since the late nineties. That period covers the arrival of supermarket flowers, the collapse of most independent city centre retail and two recessions. Being there at all is the review. What it is, in practice, is a straightforward arcade flower shop: hand-tied bouquets, arrangements, funeral tributes, the occasions people actually buy for, sold over a counter by someone who has done it for a long time. The prices are reasonable for a city centre address, which is partly because arcade rents are lower than a Colmore Row frontage and partly because the shop has never pitched itself upmarket. The weakness is everything digital. The website is dated and thin, there is no published price list, no clear delivery cut-off and no e-commerce worth the name, so ordering from a distance means ringing up. For a shop whose whole advantage is being physically in the middle of the city, that is a defensible choice, but it does cost it customers who never get as far as the phone.

The offer is the standard occasion range plus funeral work and arrangements, with delivery across Birmingham. Trading is from the arcade unit six days a week, and the shop is listed as one of the city's longer-standing florists across multiple trade directories. The arcade itself runs between New Street and Stephenson Street, which puts the shop about ninety seconds from the New Street station concourse.

Trading for over 27 years from the Piccadilly Arcade, a former cinema converted to shops.

Who it is not for

Anyone ordering remotely who wants to see and pay for a specific bouquet online. Daisy Florist in the Great Western Arcade does exactly that, with open price bands.

How it compares

Urban Design Flowers in Hall Green is the other long-serving family florist on this list with a similar refusal to chase fashion, but it has fifty years, a Chelsea gold and a far better website. Petals of Piccadilly has the location and little else in reserve.

Getting there

Piccadilly Arcade runs between New Street and Stephenson Street, ninety seconds from New Street station and Grand Central. Driving into the city centre means the Clean Air Zone; there is no reason to attempt it for this shop.