Brighton and Hove Pride has just wrapped up its 35th anniversary, and it was a big one. The weekend of 1 and 2 August saw the city take over for what is widely reckoned to be the most popular Pride in the country, with the theme 'The Power of Love' nodding to the courage and protest that carried the LGBTQI+ community through Clause 28, the AIDS crisis and decades of change since.
Every week we pick 🏆 the 5 best 🏆 things to do in Brighton and send them to your inbox. Just one weekly email, no spam.
By submitting your email, you accept our Privacy Policy
The parade set things off at 11am on the Saturday, starting at Hove Lawns and working its way along the seafront, King's Road, West Street, North Street and London Road before dispersing at Preston Circus. From there, the action shifted to Preston Park for Pride on the Park, the ticketed two-day festival that doubles as the official fundraiser for local LGBTQI+ community groups. With over 150 artists spread across a main stage, a dance stage, cabaret, Queer Town, a BAME stage, queer theatre, spoken word and even a dog show, it was the heart of the weekend.
Saturday's bill was topped by RAYE, performing from her second album 'This Music May Contain Hope', which came out in March, with Jessie J, Self Esteem, Leigh-Anne, G Flip, Moonchild Sanelly, a RuPaul DJ set, Purple Disco Machine, Bimini, Daniel Avery, Oxylion & Danger and Patrick Mason filling out the day. Sunday brought a Brighton Pride debut from Diana Ross, billed as an exclusive UK performance, alongside Five, Holly Johnson in the legends slot, a Mel C DJ set, Paris Hilton live, Armand Van Helden, The Blessed Madonna, Girls Don't Sync, HAAi, Hannah Wants and I. Jordan. Down on Marine Parade, the Pride Street Party ran alongside it both days, with drag stages, music zones and bars.
It was not a cheap weekend to do in full. Standard tickets for Pride on the Park ranged from £45 to £350, with Saturday general admission at £62.88 and Sunday at £60.60, while a weekend ticket was £132.60. A low-cost scheme for Brighton residents in the 'red zone' brought Sunday down to £25 and Saturday or the full weekend to £49, and VIP and camping tickets had sold out by mid-July. The Street Party was £36.06 for either day and £37.20 for the weekend.
Getting around was the real challenge. Road closures ran from Thursday 31 July right through to Sunday, with King's Road, West Street, North Street, London Road and a long list of others shut. London Road and Preston Park stations were closed from 5pm on the Friday until Monday morning, leaving Brighton Station as the only way in and out, where a rainbow queue system — purple for the West Coastway, blue for the Brighton Main Line and green for the East Coastway — tried to keep things moving. The intersection by the Sea Life Centre stayed closed from 9pm on the Friday until 5am on Monday, and with no parking at Preston Park and city centre spaces expensive and scarce, the best bet was the Park and Ride at the University of Sussex Falmer Campus.
For context, this all comes a long way from a gay demonstration in Brighton in October 1972, organised by The Sussex Gay Liberation Front, followed by a full pride march in July 1973. Pride returned in 1991, the park festival has been at Preston Park since 1996, and the trans community was explicitly included in 2002. After a postponed 30th anniversary in 2020 and a cancellation in 2021, the 35th edition was a reminder of why it pulls in an estimated 300,000 people and hands the local economy a boost in the region of £20 million.
Published Date
3 August 2026
