Bishop Auckland Town of Culture Bid 2028 moving forward

The Bishop Auckland Town Of Culture Forum held its second meeting yesterday (Friday, March 7) at the Spanish Gallery, to discuss their bid set to be submitted in the coming weeks.

The winner of the title, expected to be announced in early 2027, will scoop a £3m prize and two runners-up will pocket £250,000 each.

But Bishop is not alone – in the North East, Gateshead, Blyth North Shields and Berwick-upon-Tweed are hoping to end up on the shortlist.

If Bishop Auckland make the shortlist, the town will be awarded £60,000 before submitting its final bid to win in autumn.

On Friday’s agenda was the town’s ‘story’, heritage, success stories as a number of residents gave feedback on what they thought should be included in the preliminary bid to make the town stand out.

Three category winners – for towns under 20,000 population, under 75,000 and up to 100,000 – will be announced in the late autumn.

Bishop Auckland is likely to enter the medium-sized category and would include West Auckland, Escomb, Witton Park and Shildon in its bid.

Cllr Sam Zair, Mayor of Bishop Auckland previously said: “This is an incredibly exciting opportunity for Bishop Auckland.

“Our town has a powerful cultural story to tell from our heritage assets and events programme to the creativity, passion, and dedication of our residents and volunteers.

“Our bid will demonstrate that culture isn’t only about performance and heritage; it’s about people, identity, pride of place, and community connection.

“Winning Town of Culture would help us drive forward positive change.”

Bishop Auckland MP Sam Rushworth said in January: “We are not creating culture, we are recognising it and celebrating it because the story of Bishop Auckland belongs to everyone.

“We have the opportunity to show the whole country what we already know: that Bishop Auckland is a town of culture. Let’s make it official!”