UK Town of Culture
UK Town of Culture is a designation given to a town for one year, as a companion to the UK City of Culture scheme.[1] All towns outside of Greater London without city status are eligible to apply. Three finalists are chosen,[a] the winner receives £3 million, the two runner ups receive £250,000, with the money going towards local culture.[1][2]
It was founded by Lisa Nandy and launched on 30 October 2025.[3][4] Applications for the first title closed on 31 March 2026.[2] The first title will be awarded for the year 2028 and will be chosen by a panel led by Phil Redmond.[1][4]
A shortlist was due to be announced in Spring 2026 with shortlisted towns awarded £60,000 to work up their bids into a more detailed proposal. However, at the end of May, all towns that had submitted expressions of interest were emailed to say that: 'As a result of the exceptional response we have received, the expert advisory panel require additional time to assess all of the bids, and we will now announce the shortlisted towns by the end of July.'
There will be 3 finalists: one from each category of large, medium and small town.
Between 100 and 200 towns are thought to have submitted an Expression of Interest by 31 March, although not all of these have made their bids public. Research by the Daily Telegraph[5] and other sources [6] has revealed around 100 contenders for the title: more than 80 from England, 8 from Wales, 5 from Scotland and 1 from Northern Ireland.
| England | Scotland | Wales | Northern Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Large towns (greater than 75,000) | |||
|
N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Medium towns (20-75,000 pop) | |||
|
|
|
N/A |
| Small towns (less than 20,000 pop) | |||
|
|
|
|
Notes
- ↑ One town with a population under 20,000, one between 20,000 and 75,000, and one over 75,000.
References
- 1 2 3 "First UK Town of Culture competition searches for 'unique stories'". BBC News. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
- 1 2 "UK Launches Town Of Culture Contest To Boost Pride". Mirage News. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
- ↑ Uwazuruike, Allwell (14 January 2026). "UK Town of Culture competition".
- 1 2 Jones, Sian. "MSN". www.msn.com. Retrieved 14 January 2026.
- ↑ Moss, Chris (31 March 2026). "More than 80 places want to be Britain's first Town of Culture. I've rated all the contenders". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 13 April 2026.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ Echo (2 April 2026). "Bridlington Town of Culture bid gathers pace". Bridlington Echo. Retrieved 7 May 2026.
- ↑ "Sandown enters the UK Town of Culture 2028 competition - a summary of Sandown's bid". Boojum & Snark. Retrieved 2 April 2026.