Newcastle Pride 'brings £4m economic boost' to local area after record year

Newcastle's Northern Pride festival is thought to have brought around a £4m economic boost to the local area.

'Pride in the City' also welcomed record numbers to this year’s festival across Newcastle city centre, with over 82,000 people attending.

“From the satellite events which started earlier in the month, to the main events and through visitors to Newcastle during the weekend, including those who were able to enjoy from the sidelines, the positive impact on the city has been huge," Director of Northern Pride, Ste Dunn said.

“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.”

An economic impact and satisfaction survey, conducted by organisers showed that for a third of attendees, this was their first experience of pride.

Around 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.

Stephen Patterson, Chief Executive at Newcastle NE1, said: “In what is our 10th year supporting Northern Pride, it is amazing to see the continued success of the festival following the move from the Town Moor into the heart of the city.

"To see such crowds enjoying the live performers and Market Village near Grey Street, to the Family & Youth Zone, satellite events and the main stage, the city was quite literally brimming with pride.

"This year’s change in format created even more opportunities for local businesses and those in the city to support the festival and benefit from its positive impact and that should be celebrated.

"The impact is beyond expectation and we’re incredibly proud to have been able to support Northern Pride again this year.”

Kim McGuinness, North East Mayor, added: “This year’s celebrations are a huge milestone for Newcastle, with more people than ever able to experience pride in their own way.

"Across all events, but in particular with the March taking place through the city centre, this year’s festival succeeded in bringing together even more of the LGBTQIA+ community, business partners, allies and supporters to stand in solidarity, in what will be a historic shift for the city centre celebrations.”

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