By William Turtle-Clark

In early 2026, the Herefordshire market towns of Leominster, Ledbury and Ross-On-Wye made applications to become the UK's very first "Town of Culture" in 2028.

The shortlist released by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport reveals that neither Leominster, Ledbury, Ross-on-Wye or nearby Hay-on-Wye and Ludlow had made the shortlist.

The full shortlist features 15 towns, six of them in the category of “small towns” five in the “medium towns” and four in the “large towns” category. The six “small towns shortlisted are Ilfracombe, Isle of Bute, Lerwick, Sandown, Strabane, and “Stockton town centre ward”. The five "medium" towns are Corby, Great Yarmouth, Leith, Pontypridd, and Port Talbot. Finally, the four “large” towns shortlisted are Basildon, Birkenhead, Grimsby and Rotherham.

Each of these towns will be the recipient of £60,000 in order to develop their full bids, with an overall winner to be announced in early 2027.

The leader of Herefordshire Council, Jonathon Lester, had previously said that the bids provide “a great opportunity for us to do a stock check of what we can really promote”.