Tall Ships festival 'may feature fewer tall ships'

The event was last held in 2024 after a two-year break

A festival celebrating traditional sailing ships may have fewer on display in the future.

Gloucester City Council's report on the Gloucester Tall Ships Festival, which made a loss of £117,000 last year, said the cost of getting the ships into the docks is "hard to justify" given their "limited cultural outcomes".

The report also said ships taking part would have to be retrofitted to comply with modern modern health and safety standards, which some may not be able to afford.

It also recommends giving organisers two years to stage the event, rather than the six months which happened in 2024.

The next festival is due to take place in 2027, to tie in with the 200th anniversary of the opening of Gloucester Docks.

Culture and leisure cabinet member Caroline Courtney, who presented the report to Gloucester City Council, said the 2024 event was a "huge endeavour on a very short timescale".

"Feedback from people who attended the event itself was generally quite positive. It contributed an estimated economic impact of an additional £337,000 to the local economy just over that weekend.

"However, it is clear the format of the event as a closed festival site with a heavy reliance on ticket income trying to cover the increasing high costs of putting on an event of this scale and the short lead time the team had to generate sponsorship income is not the format we would want to continue with," she added.

The last event drew thousands of people to Gloucester Docks.

The report concluded the next event should be a more "expansive and imaginative".

"Rather than a single weekend, audiences may witness a series of visits from different ships over the year...this approach would enable greater participation, reduce production costs, and increase the likelihood of positive cultural and wellbeing outcomes," it said.

Emily Gibbon from Gloucester BID said the event needs "reinventing and changing with the times".

Emily Gibbon, from Gloucester Business Improvement District (BID), which is involved in the organisation of the festival, said it needs "reinventing and changing with the times".

"We know it brings in a huge footfall - 17,000 tickets were sold at the previous one. We've got to think ahead on how we change it and work on the feedback, " she said.

"We also need to look at what else the docks has celebrated. We've had lifeboats, we've had submarines here.

"Does it all have be tall ships or can we just twist it and be a docks festival and celebrate the heritage of the place instead?"

She also highlighted the issue of tall ships being able to get into the docks.

"The canal and the docks need a lot of TLC, with silting and dredging on a constant basis to make sure there is access".

Businesses can make a week's worth of money in a day

David Purchase, owner of cafe On Toast, said during the Tall Ships Festival businesses at the docks can bring in a week's money in a day, but if the tall ships aren't there "people won't come".

"You definitely need the tall ships. That is why people come to Gloucester to see them - for the excitement and seeing the glory of them coming into these historic docks."