Pride in the City, presented in partnership with Newcastle NE1, welcomed record numbers to this year’s festival across Newcastle city centre, with over 82,000 people engaging with the joy of pride, supporting a positive economic impact of c £4m. 

 

Following its move from the Town Moor, this weekend’s main events ran from Friday to Sunday, with tens of thousands of people participating in the array of entertainment across the city, from the Curious Arts Stage and the Family and Youth zone to the Market Village, Lumo Platform and the main arena at Times Square. 

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After such a positive response from our community, supporters and partners, who have embraced the citywide takeover, to receiving our economic impact and satisfaction data this week, we’ve been overwhelmed at the success of this year’s event. We set out to create a more accessible, unapologetically visible pride celebration, but also a festival which would benefit the city, local people, local bars, restaurants and hotels and we’ve achieved that together and we are so grateful to everyone who made this possible.

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​The economic impact and satisfaction survey confirmed that for a third of attendees, this was their first experience of pride. 75% of participants identified as LGBTQIA+, with 73% of attendees visiting from outside of Newcastle city centre postcodes. Of those in attendance who had experienced pride before, 70% said it was ‘better than previous years’, with 90% confirming they would return next year. Overall perception scores were positive, with most scoring 8+ out of 10.