Festival will sail back into city port

ONE of the jewels in the crown of Gloucester’s events programme will return to the city during the spring.

Thousands of people are expected to flock into the city to see the Gloucester Tall Ships 2019 festival during the bank holiday weekend on Saturday, May 25.

The event, which marks its 10th anniversary this year, will see “adventures from the high seas and bygone days from the Victorian period” brought to life at the festival.

Organisers say they are expecting hundreds of thousands of people to flood into the city to watch and take part in the event at Gloucester Docks.

Pirates will be swashbuckling, sailors will be singing sea shanties, and there will be fun games, food and drink and more for the festival.

The event, organised by Marketing Gloucester with help from Gloucester Quays and the Canal and River Trust, will see the historic Gloucester Docks “shown in all their splendour over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend as they play host to the award- winning Gloucester Tall Ships festival and are chock full of fabulous activities for all the family to enjoy”.

Jason Smith, chief executive of Marketing Gloucester, said: “It’s going to be an extraordinary event for the city. This is going to be the biggest and best event yet.”

He added that the Tall Ships Festival, which coincided with the opening of Gloucester Quays, “set the standard for other events” for the city.

He said the event would bring in millions of pounds into the city centre economy and thinks Gloucester Docks could have 200,000 people coming to visit over the weekend.

“What we’re aiming to do is create a really great experience. If you buy a ticket on the first day, you’ll be able to enter on multiple times,” he said.

“For local people it means you can enter every single day and see something different.”