Newcastle Pride confirms 2025 dates plus a major new festival addition

Summer in Newcastle will be full of Pride this year with news that not only will the popular weekend festival be back in July but the previous month also will be packed with events.

A new Pride Fringe programme will be running throughout June, bringing a host of live entertainment, comedy and theatre, in the build-up to the city’s big annual celebration of the LGBTQIA+ community which will play out on the July 19-20 weekend at a range of venues, including new host the iconic Theatre Royal. And together the June and July events will be delivering what Ste Dunn calls “an even bigger and better Newcastle Pride”.

The annual Newcastle Pride – which is run by the charity Northern Pride of which Ste is director – switched its focus last year from Exhibition Park to the heart of the city and proved a hit, while as previously reported other regional Pride events which took place during that summer in Gateshead, Sunderland and South Tyneside enjoyed similar success. Now this year the aim is to build upon that.

The Newcastle biggie will be pairing up with NE1 Ltd for a city-wide takeover and it promises an even bigger line-up of entertainment and family activities as well as wider access to health and wellbeing support. Along with the announcement of new venues is news that the Theatre Royal will host the festival’s popular Family and Youth Zone.

And the independent Alphabetti Theatre will be hosting an entirely new zone – Trans+ – to provide, say organisers, “a safe, celebratory and empowering area for the region’s trans and non-binary community”. The festival’s programme has yet to be announced but there will be main stage acts in the Pride Arena in Times Square on Saturday, July 19 followed by tribute acts and local artists on the Sunday, July 20.



Newcastle Pride confirms 2025 dates plus a major new festival addition
Stephen Patterson, chief executive of NE1 Ltd, left, with Ste Dunn, director of Northern Pride. Credit: Haydn Brown Photography

The festival is working with the local Evnt Inspirations company and Life Science Centre on a new arena layout, to create more space for festival-goers while also adding a second stage for dance and cabaret zone acts. The line-up for June’s event is under wraps for now too but this month-long fringe entertainment will also include new experiences and networking opportunities across a range of venues.

In addition, Northern Pride will be running an artist commission call-out with Creative Central NCL, supported by Curious Arts. Ste says the team has been “overwhelmed” by the continuing support of its partners, which also include Newcastle City Council, and that of the community and other supporters.

“We can’t wait to continue building on great foundations to deliver another brilliant event together,” he said. “We are delighted to be bringing an even bigger and better Newcastle Pride to the city centre this year.”

Council leader Karen Kilgour said: “Last year’s celebrations represented a huge milestone for Newcastle, with more people than ever able to experience pride.” She said more than 82,000 people engaged with the festival and that its economic benefit to the city and hospitality trade was around£4m.

She added: “I look forward to joining in the celebrations and reinforcing our solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ community at a time when we are seeing an abhorrent rise in discrimination, both in this country and across the world.” Stephen Patterson, chief executive at NE1, said: “We are thrilled to continue our partnership with Northern Pride to support another city takeover.

The move from the Town Moor into the heart of the city was an incredible success last year.” He said the format of the festival creates many opportunities for local businesses and residents and that he’d like even more to become involved. “We can’t wait to see what’s in store for 2025.”

Early bird tickets for the Pride Arena are now on sale with those for Saturday costing from £20 and Sunday’s priced from £7.50. Full weekend tickets are available from £25 and there are also VIP options: see here.

Join our Things To Do WhatsApp community

Join our Things To Do community for all the latest news What’s On news sent direct to your phone.

To join you need to have WhatsApp on your device. All you need to do is click on the link and press ‘join community’.

No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the ChronicleLive team.

We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners.

If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose ‘exit group’.

If you’re curious, you can read our privacy notice.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN

View news Source: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/newcastle-pride-confirms-2025-dates-30906286

Scroll to Top