Blackpool City of Culture 2029

Blackpool is in the final four

On 21 October 2026, Blackpool was shortlisted for UK City of Culture 2029. The other three places are Milton Keynes, Sheffield and Wrexham. The winner is due to be announced in early 2027.

Your support has been amazing. Thank you to everyone who backed the bid, shared it, and stood up for this town.

Bid supporters outside Blackpool Tower with a banner reading Let's back Blackpool for UK City of Culture

Photo: Blackpool Council / VisitBlackpool

Blackpool City of Culture is not a new idea to dancers. This town was a city of culture long before the shortlist: the Tower, the Tower Ballroom, the Winter Gardens, the Blackpool Dance Festival, the Empress Ballroom, the illuminations, the shows, and the Ballroom and Latin couples who come here from around the world. That was already true. The shortlist is recognition of work that has been going on for years. It is not the start of the story.

You can still back the bid

Blackpool Council is still asking people to show their support. If you have not added your name yet, or you want to add it again, you still can.

Show your support on VisitBlackpool

What the title means

UK City of Culture is a national title, awarded every four years. The winning place receives about £10 million to run a year-long programme. Each of the four shortlisted places also receives £125,000 to keep developing their bid. A win would be a boost. It would not be the first time this town has put culture, or dance, on a national stage.

Why dancers should care

Blackpool is not only a host for dance. It is dance culture. The Tower and the Tower Ballroom are the pictures the rest of the country already knows: tea dances, Come Dancing, a night out on a famous floor. The Winter Gardens and the Empress Ballroom are where the Blackpool Dance Festival titles are decided. Festival week is the biggest week of the year for a lot of dancers. For just as many it is the local class, the sequence night, the medallist competition, or that same night out. All of that sits here.

The Tower Ballroom inside Blackpool Tower, empty dance floor and balconies

The Tower Ballroom. Photo: Michael Beckwith / Wikimedia Commons

Few people see the Empress Ballroom like this. These clips were filmed in 2022 while the room was being set for championships, empty of dancers.

The Empress Ballroom empty, set for the IDTA championships. Filmed by Nathan, Blackpool Dance Limited, 2022.

The Empress Ballroom empty, set for the NATD championships. Filmed by Nathan, Blackpool Dance Limited, 2022.

Blackpool Tower and Central Pier at night, home of Ballroom and Latin dance and the Blackpool Dance Festival

Blackpool Tower and the promenade. This is the town the Dance Festival comes home to.

A short history of dance in Blackpool, from the 1800s to today

1800s to early 1900s

Blackpool grew as a seaside town built for pleasure: the Tower, the Tower Ballroom, the piers, the Winter Gardens, and rooms designed for music and dancing. People came here to be entertained. That is the foundation the Festival still stands on.

Mid to late 1900s

The Blackpool Dance Festival became the contest that set the standard for Ballroom and Latin. Champions were made in the Empress Ballroom. Teachers, adjudicators and couples treated a Blackpool title as the one that counted.

Today

The Festival is still here. So is the Tower Ballroom. So are the social dancers, the sequence nights, the juniors in local classes, and the couples who travel in for one shot at the floor. Blackpool Dance Store exists because that world still comes through this town. We backed the bid because this is home, not because we needed a title to say so.