A future Small Town of Culture?
Berwick-Upon-Tweed may not have been selected for the cultural accolade for 2028, but Nick Jones argues, it’s a only a matter of time before the prize is secured
The Straw Yard, just inside Berwick ramparts, with the Barracks renovation behind.
ALTHOUGH it’s disappointing that Berwick-upon-Tweed hasn’t been shortlisted to be UK’s Small Town of Culture 2028, it always has been in a class of its own, with its own royalty even. Competitions like this aren’t just about the money, about which more later; they focus attention and interest.
There’s quite a buzz around town this summer, with new arts initiatives kicking off every few weeks, and even a new magazine, Berwick Style & Culture, highlighting just how much is happening. Back in 2019, a few of us realised that, although there were lots of artists in and around Berwick, there was no way of meeting up or finding out who was doing what, let alone getting new projects up and running.
Plans were laid for improved studio space, an open studios event, maybe even an arts festival. Covid booted all that into touch.
Thankfully regional powers-that-be in the North East saw the potential and awarded £ 1.5m to invest in Berwick as a
Cultural and Creative Zone in 2020.
Now that seed-funding is bearing fruit. Some quite quirky and imaginative fruit too, which is good, albeit sometimes feeling a little contrived, and short-lived; blink and you’ll miss it. In The Visitors Scottish performance artist Lewis Hetherington, inspired by “curious friends from the sea”, pearls, salmon, and barnacles, worked with schools to produce dance, artwork and sculpture, as well as referencing Pierrots entertaining Victorian holiday makers on Spittal beach.
In BINGO! Beth J Ross brings together film, painting and embroidery to explore the community significance of bingo halls, especially for women.
Most engaged with local creative talent and characters is Lucy Wright’s Our Wic, inspired by the northern tradition of crowning kings and queens of industry, and coinciding with the 80th anniversary of the Tweed Salmon Queen coronation. Local artists designed six bespoke crowns for Berwick’s new royalty, all people helping make a better Wic. A lot of work has gone into this, so more’s the pity the exhibition was only on for a short time.
Temporary interventions all, drawing on Berwick’s heritage, and grist to the mill of its determination to attract more tourists… .and their cash.
The irony being that for centuries Berwick’s chief raison d’etre was as a garrison town, its massive Elizabethan ramparts designed to defend England from Scotland, France, Spain, Holland. Now, it aspires to be “one of the UK’s most distinctive, must-see cultural destinations”, for visitors from… .Scotland, France, Spain, Holland et al. Not only inside those massive walls, but into the Living Barracks, an all-singing all-dancing £ 15M restoration transforming these somewhat dour and dreary buildings into a cultural hub, due to open in 2028.
Meantime, for locals, there’s Speakeasy, a monthly showcasing of artists in the Straw Yard, a delightful, intimate performance space nearby, a David to the Goliath of the barracks.
Coming in the next few months: painters Alice Walter and Virginia Bodman, then Kerenza McClarnan on public art projects, and Rachael Champion’s site specific installations.
Autumn brings Berwick Open Studios on the weekends 26th /27th September and 3rd/4th October, and a great opportunity to see the wealth of creative talent here.
Meantime, over in Tweedmouth the conversion of the Old Brewery continues apace. Due to open later this year, it will provide nine studios, a gallery and workshop, and is now inviting applications for spaces.
Then there’s The Maltings, a £ 26M redevelopment, the design of which has divided the town. Enough said, at least until a future issue!
Back to the money, and the maths. Outgoing Arts Council chair Sir Nicholas Serota said “Every time you put £ 1 into the arts, the economy grows by £ 2.50.” So current investment of around £ 50M into Berwick should translate into a return of £ 125M...not bad!
Next, a consultation with ACE’s bean-counter, its Culture and Place Data Explorer. It tells me that Northumberland received ACE funding of £ 6.26 per head in 2025/26, down from £ 7.75 in 2018/19, compared to £ 361 per head for the City of London in 2025/26, and £ 712 per head in 2018/19. Perhaps Andy Burnham should be told? After all, numbers never lie, do they?
www.createberwick.co.uk
www.thestrawyard.co.uk
