Gloucester ditches UK City of Culture 2025 bid

Gloucester City Council had hoped winning the 2025 title would put the city and the county on the map

Gloucester has ditched its bid to be the next UK City of Culture, two weeks after announcing it was competing.

The city council had said the city was a "serious contender" and winning would put it and the county on the map.

It has now said it will not submit an expression of interest as the bid needs "significant resources" and it wants to focus on the city's recovery instead.

Gloucester Cultural Trust said it was disappointed as it "wholeheartedly believed" it would have been chosen.

For the 2025 title, groups of towns are able to join forces to bid.

Led by the city, the Gloucester for Gloucestershire bid had promised to be a "year-long series of events" showcasing the county's "wealth of creativity".

The city council and Gloucester Cultural Trust said an expression of interest would not now be submitted

But in a joint statement, the city council and Gloucester Cultural Trust said it would not be submitting an expression of interest now.

"While the City of Culture title undoubtedly brings new opportunities and Gloucester was proposing a truly ambitious cross-county approach we have decided on reflection to concentrate our resources on delivering the city's cultural recovery and existing projects that we are committed to," the statement said.

"The bid process requires significant resources and it has been decided to focus that energy and investment into the recovery of the city following the challenges of the pandemic."

Donna Renney, from the trust, said it "wasn't down to expense" as they could have raised the money.

"We only had six weeks to do it so we said: 'let's go for it' but then we really looked at everything we would have to bring together," she said.

"We've got a huge amount going on and we felt we needed to focus on that.

"It's not that Gloucester can't be a city of culture, Gloucester is a city of culture and I hope they will consider it again when 2029 comes around."

Lancashire - which was aiming to be the first county to clinch the title - recently ditched its bid after the council withdrew its support because underwriting it by up to £22m was "too great a financial risk".

Coventry is currently enjoying its time in the role, after taking the title last year.

The winning bid for the 2025 title will be announced in December.