Events & Marketing

A growing reputation for it’s events

Plymouth has a growing reputation for its events, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors and providing a major economic boost to the city.

Events such as Sail GP and the British Fireworks Championships attract national and regional media coverage which increases the profile of Plymouth and its Britain’s Ocean City brand across the world.

The BID will add to the city-wide programme with an ambitious mix of our own and third- party events to create one of the most vibrant city centres in the UK.

The Next Five Years

The newly improved public spaces give us the opportunity to make a step-change in our events programme.

We will work with partners, including Destination Plymouth, Plymouth Culture, The Box and Theatre Royal Plymouth to develop and add to our events calendar - from busking and street entertainment to large-scale theatrical and music productions.

We will continue with our smaller events and trails throughout the year in different locations, bringing a direct benefit to businesses in those areas.

NEW for 2025 will be a mobile big screen for events such as Wimbledon, family films and other interactive events.

  • Flavour Fest

    Flavour Fest attracts up to 100,000 visitors over three days with many of our BID businesses among the stallholders. It expanded in 2024 with an entertainment zone and live music in the evenings. We will continue to expand this event, making use of the new public spaces in New George Street and Armada Way.

  • West End Carnival

    This event has grown from a community fun day to support our independent businesses into a full-blown carnival with parade, samba bands, stilt walkers and giant puppets. It attracts more than 10,000 visitors and provides our West End businesses and Plymouth Market traders with an opportunity to showcase their products and services and attract new customers.

  • Christmas In Plymouth

    This includes our Christmas lights switch-on and Christmas Market on the Piazza which continues to grow and attract more stall holders every year with choirs, live music and other Christmas entertainment.

    From this year we will have a new performance space in Old Town Square with opportunities for more Christmas features and entertainment.

  • Marketing

    We work with our partners at the city council, Destination Plymouth and Plymouth Waterfront Partnership to deliver two annual marketing campaigns – one for the summer, aimed at residents and holidaymakers across Devon and Cornwall, and one for Christmas to promote Christmas shopping, eating, drinking and partying and our Christmas events.

    But we also market the city centre and your businesses every day via our social media channels and What’s On Plymouth.

    @plymcitycentre @WestEndPlymouth @WhatsonPlymouth

  • Love Plymouth Gift Card

    We are keen to launch a Plymouth gift card scheme to benefit all our businesses by keeping spend in the city and attract new customers to your stores.

    If the BID vote is successful, we will explore a partnership with the Plymouth Waterfront Partnership and a card provider to introduce a gift programme with an attractive, easy to use card in any participating BID businesses.

    The pre-paid card works using Master Card technology so set up is easy and free for businesses with costs and marketing paid for by the two BIDs.