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Great Yarmouth on the UK Town of Culture 2028 shortlist
Great Yarmouth is one of 15 towns shortlisted to be the first UK Town of Culture. Its case rests on 2028 itself, when four of its landmarks reach a centenary, an anniversary or a reopening.
On Wednesday 9 July 2026 the Department for Culture, Media and Sport named the 15 towns shortlisted to become the first UK Town of Culture, and Great Yarmouth is the only Norfolk town among them. Full bids are due by 5pm on 30 November 2026. The winner, announced by 31 March 2027, will run its year of culture through 2028.
Great Yarmouth’s case rests on dates. Four of its cultural landmarks have a centenary, an anniversary or a reopening in 2028, so the year it is bidding for is one the town would be marking anyway, whatever the panel decides.
How the competition works
DCMS received 398 bids and sorted them into three categories by the size of the town. The shortlist:
- Small towns (six): Ilfracombe, Isle of Bute, Lerwick, Sandown, Strabane, Stockton Town Centre Ward.
- Medium towns (five): Corby, Great Yarmouth, Leith, Pontypridd, Port Talbot.
- Large towns (four): Basildon, Birkenhead, Grimsby, Rotherham.
Each shortlisted town has received £60,000 to prepare its full bid. The independent panel, chaired by Sir Phil Redmond, the screenwriter who created Grange Hill, Brookside and Hollyoaks, will then pick the best small, medium and large town. One of those three becomes UK Town of Culture 2028 and receives £3 million. The other two are named finalists and receive £250,000 each to deliver part of their programme.
That structure matters for Great Yarmouth. Before it can compete for the title it has to come out ahead of Corby, Leith, Pontypridd and Port Talbot in the medium category. If it does and then loses the overall prize, it becomes “Best Medium Town, UK Town of Culture 2028” and takes the £250,000.
What Great Yarmouth put in the pitch
The borough council’s preliminary pitch, as BBC Norfolk reported it, called 2028 a key year for the town. The restored Venetian Waterways turn 100. The Hippodrome, built in 1903 and described by its owners as Britain’s last remaining “total” circus building, turns 125. The Out There Festival reaches its 20th year. And the Winter Gardens on the seafront, closed since 2008, is due to reopen after an £18m restoration, most of it paid for by the National Lottery Heritage Fund (£12.3 million) and the Towns Fund (£6 million).
Councillor Carl Smith, leader of Great Yarmouth Borough Council, said the council would be “pulling out all the stops” in the final round. Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, spoke of a chance “to add rocket boosters” to the town’s waterfront and arts venues. Ministers said warm things about every town on the list; the anniversaries are the part of the pitch a panel can check.
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What the older programme has delivered
Town of Culture is modelled on UK City of Culture, which has been held by Derry-Londonderry in 2013, Hull in 2017, Coventry in 2021 and Bradford in 2025. DCMS says the first three of those attracted more than £1 billion in additional investment between them and an estimated 2 million visitors. It does not say how much of that each city drew, or how much would have arrived without the title.
The sums in this competition are much smaller, and DCMS expects towns to use them to raise more. Its guidance tells bidders the prize money can be used to attract sponsorship and philanthropy, and asks every shortlisted town which parts of its programme it would still deliver as a £250,000 finalist. By the end of November Great Yarmouth will have a costed plan for 2028 whether it wins or not.
The other Norfolk bids
Seven other Norfolk bids appear on the DCMS list of entrants. Aylsham, Fakenham, North Walsham, Wells-next-the-Sea and a joint bid from Sheringham and Cromer entered as small towns; Thetford and the Waveney Valley entered as medium towns. None was shortlisted. Lowestoft, just over the border in Suffolk, also bid in the medium category and missed out.
What happens next
DCMS held an information event for the 15 shortlisted towns in Manchester on 14 September 2026. Full bids are due at 5pm on 30 November 2026. The panel will visit the towns and hear final presentations in early 2027, and the winner and the two finalists will be announced by 31 March 2027. The panel makes a further visit to all three in autumn 2027 to check on their plans. If Great Yarmouth wins, its cultural year runs from January to December 2028, the same year as the anniversaries in its pitch.
What it means if you are thinking of moving here
Do not pay more for a house in Great Yarmouth because of the bid. Nothing DCMS has published makes a claim about house prices, and the prize is £3 million for a single year of events. If you want to live somewhere with a busy events calendar and are already weighing up Yarmouth, a 2028 cultural year and a reopened Winter Gardens would add to what the town runs now.
The larger economic plans are around the port. In June 2026 the borough council set out a masterplan for South Denes, the 90-acre peninsula that is a base for the North Sea offshore gas and wind industry, which the council says could create more than 3,000 jobs. Plans are also being developed for a £60m expansion of the port and a £20m operations and maintenance campus. If you are moving for work, those are the projects to follow.
Our Great Yarmouth guide covers house prices, schools, the commute and the parts of the town still struggling. For comparison, Gorleston-on-Sea is just south of the river mouth, and Caister-on-Sea is at the northern edge of the built-up borough.
Frequently asked questions
When is the UK Town of Culture 2028 winner announced?
By 31 March 2027, according to the DCMS guidance for bidders. Full bids are due on 30 November 2026, and the cultural year runs from January to December 2028.
How much money does the winner receive?
£3 million. The two finalists, the best towns in the other two size categories, receive £250,000 each. Every shortlisted town, Great Yarmouth included, has already received £60,000 to prepare its bid.
Which other Norfolk towns bid?
Aylsham, Fakenham, North Walsham, Wells-next-the-Sea, Thetford, the Waveney Valley and a joint Cromer and Sheringham bid. None was shortlisted, so Great Yarmouth is the only Norfolk town left in the competition.
Does the shortlisting improve property values in Great Yarmouth?
There is no evidence that it does. DCMS makes no claim about house prices; its figures for City of Culture are about investment and visitors, not property values.
Which category is Great Yarmouth competing in?
Medium towns, against Corby in Northamptonshire, Leith in Edinburgh, and Pontypridd and Port Talbot in South Wales. Only one of the five goes forward as the medium-town finalist.
Sources
- Department for Culture, Media and Sport press release, “Shortlist for UK Town of Culture revealed,” 9 July 2026, including the full list of bids (gov.uk).
- Department for Culture, Media and Sport, “UK Town of Culture 2028: Full application: guidance for bidders,” updated 20 August 2026 (gov.uk).
- BBC Norfolk, “Great Yarmouth makes UK Town of Culture shortlist,” 9 July 2026 (bbc.co.uk).
- BBC Norfolk, “Regeneration plan aims to create 3,000 jobs in town,” 2 June 2026 (bbc.co.uk).
- Great Yarmouth Hippodrome Circus (hippodromecircus.co.uk); Construction News on the Winter Gardens contract, 1 September 2025 (constructionnews.co.uk).
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