But in the face of reduced income and increased costs it’s fair to say putting Pride on is harder than ever. You’ll all know a festival that has been cancelled recently, some big names included, there is a crisis in the events industry, and we are just not getting the funding we need to make Pride happen.
We’ve been working to keep costs down, holding an event of Bristol Pride’s size comes with responsibilities, approvals, paperwork and costs. It cost us £714,613.58 to make Pride happen in 2025 – you can a breakdown below of those costs, so you can see where your ticket money and donation go – or just take a look around at the festival and see what you’ve helped create!
We spent over £15,000 on toilets alone last year, £20,000 on power and, because it doesn’t happen for free, we also need to raise over £22,000 just to cover the costs of making the Parade happen.
As it stands tickets should be at least £52 to cover our costs but it remains important to us that no-one is excluded from Pride because they can’t afford it, so we subsidise tickets via sponsorship and donations to enable this. In recent years sponsorship and donations have decreased due to economic issues impacting us all and rising negative political pressure on businesses.
Bristol Pride is a registered not for profit charity, we’re independent and not owned by a big festival machine, every penny goes directly to putting Pride on! In the face of rising hate and attempts to erase us from society, to make sure Pride keeps happening because it’s as much needed now as ever was.
To help make Pride happen you can simply ensure you get a ticket Pride early and you can also donate or fundraise for us. By doing this, we can invest more back into the festival and keep making something truly special here is Bristol that remains independent, ethical and true to what Pride is about.
Thank you for your continued support.
