UK Town of Culture
Cultural designation in the United Kingdom
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 |
| Large towns (greater than 75,000) |
| Bournemouth-Christchurch-Poole |
| Burton upon Trent |
| Crewe |
| Eastbourne |
| Grimsby |
| Halifax |
| Harrogate |
| Hastings |
| Huddersfield |
| Newcastle-under-Lyme |
| Northampton |
| Redditch |
| St Helens |
| Worthing |
| Medium towns (20-75,000 pop) |
| Accrington |
| Barnsley |
| Beeston |
| Bishop Auckland |
| Boston |
| Bridgwater |
| Bridlington |
| Bury St Edmunds |
| Chorley |
| Coalville |
| Congleton |
| Falmouth |
| Felixstowe |
| Great Yarmouth |
| Hinckley |
| Huntingdon |
| Keighley |
| Leigh-on-Sea |
| Lowestoft |
| Melton Mowbray |
| Newquay |
| North Shields |
| Penzance |
| Royal Leamington Spa |
| Scarborough |
| Shrewsbury |
| Skegness |
| Spalding |
| St Neots |
| Thetford |
| Warwick |
| Witham |
| Small towns (less than 20,000 pop) |
| Amesbury |
| Ashby-de-la-Zouch |
| Barnard Castle |
| Berwick-upon-Tweed |
| Bridgnorth |
| Broseley |
| Conisbrough |
| Guiseley |
| Helmsley |
| Helston |
| Henley-on-Thames |
| Ilkley |
| Kimberley |
| Kirkby Lonsdale |
| Knutsford |
| Ledbury |
| Leominster |
| Ludlow |
| Lymington and Pennington |
| Marazion |
| Mere |
| Oswestry |
| Pocklington |
| Redruth |
| Richmond |
| Rochford |
| Ross-on-Wye |
| Rye |
| Sandown, Isle of Wight [7] |
| Settle |
| St Ives |
| Warminster |
| Watchet |
| Waveney Valley |
| Wales |
| Medium towns (20-75,000 pop) |
| Port Talbot |
| Small towns (less than 20,000 pop) |
| Abergavenny |
| Caerleon |
| Hay-on-Wye |
| Holyhead |
| Llandrindod Wells |
| Machynlleth |
| Presteigne |
| Scotland |
| Medium towns (20-75,000 pop) |
| Greenock |
| Small towns (less than 20,000 pop) |
| Dunbar |
| Haddington |
| Penicuik |
| Stornoway |
| Northern Ireland |
| Small towns (less than 20,000 pop) |
| Strabane |
Notes
- One town with a population under 20,000, one between 20,000 and 75,000, and one over 75,000.