Liverpool Pride, billed as one of Europe’s largest free Pride events, which was scheduled to take place on Saturday, 26 July, has been cancelled.

​

Organisers of the event, LCR Pride Foundation, announced the sad news that Liverpool Pride, which was to bring LGBTQ+ communities and allies together, would not take place in 2025, citing ‘significant financial and organisational challenges’. 

​

According to organisers, more than 60,000 people attended the event in 2024, bringing an estimated£6 million in economic value to the city. 

​

The annual March with Pride - the heart of city’s Pride celebrations, founded in grassroots activism and protest – will also be cancelled. In 2024 a record-breaking 25,000 people marched with Pride through the city streets. 

​

“It is with great sadness that we announce the cancellation of this year’s Pride in Liverpool and March with Pride,” read a statement.

​

“In recent months the charity has faced significant financial and organisational challenges, which have impacted timescales and resulted in it reverting to an almost entirely volunteer-led operation.

​

“This, combined with rising costs and difficulty securing national and local funding, has made it impossible to bring Pride in Liverpool to the city this year.

​

“Having listened to our community, we also recently took the decision to sever our relationship with Barclays, which created further delays to planning.

​

“While we are confident that this was the right decision, it is one that has had a substantial impact at an already challenging time.

​

“Our small team had been working closely with key partners and some fantastic city-based sponsors right up until the end of May to try to ensure the march went ahead, but despite all best efforts we were unable to make it feasible.

​

“We are devastated that we will not be able to march together this year, at a time when coming together to stand in solidarity, protest and celebration is needed more than ever, and we understand how difficult this will be for our community.

​

“However, we strongly believe that it is the right decision to ensure both the continuation of the organisation and to enable the return of Pride in Liverpool and our march in 2026.

​

“On that front, discussions with Liverpool City Council and a number of city-based sponsors are already underway. “We believe that our beautiful, resilient city region deserves a consistent, safe and community-led pride celebration each and every year, and our priority now is to ensure that we have a sustainable foundation to secure that, through working with our community, and with partners, funders and sponsors that align with our values.

​

“We will work to promote other events and activities taking place over Pride weekend, and we will also be supporting our fantastic regional Prides, who have a summer of celebration planned across the boroughs.

​

“We are also actively exploring other ways to bring the community together later in the year and recruiting new trustees to support our organisational mission to make the Liverpool City Region the most LGBTQ+ friendly in the UK.

​

“We thank our city partners and our community for their patience and support at this challenging time, and we look forward to marching together again next summer.”