Pride event returns to Surrey for sixth year

Pride in Surrey will return for the sixth year with a parade and music in Guildford

Surrey's Pride parade and music festival will return to the county this weekend as part of a day of celebrations.

Pride in Surrey will see a parade through the streets of Guildford to Stoke Park on Saturday.

The event, now in its sixth year, will also include food and drinks stalls as well as a marketplace including local traders and charities.

This year's event is the first after Surrey County Council pulled its official support and Pride in Surrey's founder was jailed for raping a 12-year-old boy.

Stoke Park will host the event for the second year in a row after it was previously held in Reigate, Godalming and Camberley.

Pride in Surrey's Parade will begin in Friary Street, Guildford, at 11:00 BST before making its way along the High Street.

The parade will pause at Tunsgate Quarter before passing G Live and The Mandolay Hotel.

After reaching London Road, the parade will turn into Stoke Park, where the musical event will take place.

Tickets for the Stoke Park event are available on a "pay what you can" basis.

Surrey County Council previously said it would withdraw official support for the event, saying it did not believe it was "truly representative" of the whole LGBTQ+ community. The council had not officially sponsored the event since 2021.

Charlie Watts, the chief executive of Surrey Pride, previously described the decision as "confusing" and as part of a "troubling" trend.

The 2025 event is also the first since Stephen Ireland, the founder of Pride in Surrey, was jailed for 24 years for raping an "extremely vulnerable" 12-year-old boy he met on a dating app.

Ireland's partner David Sutton, 27, was also jailed for four-and-a-half years for making indecent photographs of children and possession of an extreme pornographic image.

Pride in Surrey said it was "deeply shocked and saddened", condemning Ireland and Sutton's actions as "utterly appalling and in complete opposition to everything our organisation stands for".