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Image courtesy of Emma Livingstone

Up on top of the roof of The Printworks, you’ll find a little oasis of peace and calm. Featuring an allotment, herb garden, orchard, beetle hotel and bee garden, the project was started in partnership between the Printworks and Hard Rock Café Manchester back in 2012, as part of Hard Rock’s philanthropic commitment to serving and protecting the environment. In 2015, the project was awarded a Biodiversity Hotspot Award by Manchester City Council.

Image courtesy of Hard Rock Cafe Manchester

Along with 6 chickens, the garden is home to four beehives housing four colonies of around 80,000 bees. They are looked after by volunteers from amongst the Printworks and Hard Rock staff, who have all  trained as fully qualified apiarists, along with Adrian Rhodes and volunteers from the Volition scheme.

In 2014, a charity auction of the first yield of honey was held, raising money for both the Forever Manchester and Booth Centre charities. The label for the jars of honey was specially designed by Mancsy, with a small run of 30 signed and numbered by the artist. The honey sold out in less than a week, raising over £3000 for the charities.

Image courtesy of Hard Rock Cafe Manchester

To celebrate the beehives, Hard Rock Manchester have released limited edition pins via their instore shop. The bee series of pins date from 2014, and the “Live from the Hive” Mancsy pins are currently on sale in the shop.

Image courtesy of Hard Rock Cafe Manchester

For updates on the bees and project, you can follow the hashtag #livefromthehive or Hard Rock Café Manchester on twitter.

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