Town of Culture: A HUGE Opportunity for Our Town

A new national opportunity has opened for towns across the UK to showcase their creativity, heritage and community spirit through the UK Town of Culture competition, launched by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Inspired by the success of UK City of Culture, the programme aims to highlight the cultural contribution of towns across the UK. The winning town will receive £3 million to deliver a six-month cultural programme in 2028, while two finalists in each size category will receive £250,000 to develop elements of their proposals.

BID for Galashiels, working with key local partners, has submitted an expression of interest for Galashiels to take part in the competition. This early stage focuses on setting out the town’s vision, the ideas behind a potential programme, and demonstrating that Galashiels has the ambition and partnerships to deliver.

If successful, the opportunity could bring significant benefits to the town, including:

• attracting new visitors to Galashiels

• increasing footfall for local businesses

• raising the national profile of the town

• creating opportunities for local creatives, organisations and community groups

• supporting new events, activity and collaboration across the town centre

The shortlist of towns progressing to the next stage of the competition is expected to be announced in Spring 2026. You can read more here.