UK City of Culture 2025: Five in North West, Wales to compete

A record 20 towns and regions have put bids in for the award, which acts as a catalyst to attract visitors and investment.

In the North West and North Wales, entrants are:

The competition is run by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which will be trimming its list of entrants over the next few weeks. When that shortened list of bidders comes out, each will be offered £40,000 grants to help with their continued application. A final shortlist will be released in early 2022.

The winner of the UK City of Culture title for 2025 will be announced in May 2022.

Coventry is the current UK City of Culture, and credits its title for securing £100m in capital investment for cultural projects. Coventry received £15.5m from the government to support its year as UK City of Culture.

Previous winners of the competition include Derry-Londonderry and Hull. Hull held more than 2,800 events and cultural activities throughout its year as UK City of Culture, with more than 5.3m visits to the town.

Here is the complete list of towns and regions competing for the 2025 title:

  • Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon
  • The City of Bangor and Northwest Wales
  • The Borderlands region, comprising Dumfries and Galloway, Scottish Borders, Northumberland, Cumbria and Carlisle City
  • Bradford
  • Conwy County
  • Cornwall
  • Derby
  • County Durham
  • Lancashire
  • Medway
  • City of Newport
  • Powys
  • Southampton
  • Stirling
  • The Tay Cities region
  • Torbay and Exeter
  • Wakefield District
  • City of Wolverhampton
  • Wrexham County Borough
  • Great Yarmouth & East Suffolk

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