Chichester Pride festival holds inaugural parade

Chichester Pride parade will wind through the city centre to the cathedral

An inaugural Pride parade has been held in a West Sussex cathedral city on Saturday.

The organisers of Chichester Pride, which is holding its third annual event, hopes the parade will "build visibility within the city".

It started at 10:30 BST in Priory Park and meandered through North Street and West Street before finishing outside the cathedral.

Stuart Burrows, the parade organiser, said it was "a historic moment for Chichester and the local LGBTQ+ community".

He said: "The city’s flagpoles have been dressed with Pride flags and businesses have dressed their windows with a Pride theme too.

"It’s making the city very colourful."

Organisers said they were encouraging the public to line the streets in support of the 19 organisations parading this year.

Around 1,600 tickets were sold for Chichester's Pride festival in 2023

The city council is also flying the Pride flag and the mayor addressed the crowd outside the cathedral.

Mr Burrows said: "It is so important to us that the local LGBTQ+ community know that Chichester is a welcoming and accepting city for all.”

The parade was followed by the festival on the front lawn of Chichester College featuring, amongst others, RuPaul's Drag Race star Sum Ting Wong on the main stage.

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