Turnout for Brighton’s Pride festival has been affected by severe rail disruption and rainy weather but organisers are adamant “the show goes on”.
Revellers were encouraged to don ponchos over their colourful outfits and look after friends as they arrived in droves to the seaside city from all over the UK.
Attendees opted to travel via buses, cars or arrived a day earlier to avoid the lack of train services between London and Brighton on Saturday on what was meant to be the one of city’s busiest days.
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) blamed an overtime ban by the drivers’ union Aslef for the travel disruption to the city.
Brighton Pride’s managing director Paul Kemp said organisers were disappointed a compromise could not be found.
He said: “It will affect turnout absolutely because people will be cut off from the rest of the country. I’m sorry for people who booked hotels and paid for accommodation and now can’t get in.”
But he said it “won’t derail us” and “the show goes on” as the parade got under way amid wet and rainy conditions. and a yellow weather warning from the Met Office.
Saturday’s parade was expected to draw 300,000 people to the city’s streets as they march to the official Pride community fundraiser Fabuloso in the Park at Preston Park.
Mr Kemp said: “We’ve encouraged people to wear ponchos so it might be a little bit Glastonbury.
“That wouldn’t stop us from having a great celebration and a great Pride in our city.”
He added: “Make sure you wear a poncho and slay that poncho, stay dry, look after your friends, don’t over do it, make sure you’ve got somewhere to stay and look out for people.”
The annual celebration is the city’s largest single event, expected to boost the economy by more than £20 million over the weekend.
Jamie Sanders, 36, travelled from Hastings, East Sussex, as one of the organisers for Sainsbury’s parade group.
While he was able to book a hotel overnight, out of 100 colleagues expecting to take part in the company’s parade, only 60 were able to make it due to the travel disruption.
But he said the “buses were brilliant”, picking people up across other locations to help them get there.
Meanwhile Ali and Jo Hood-Green made the seven-hour drive from Bolton, Lancashire, on Friday, saying: “It was worth it”.
Connor Charles, 30, and Alex Fire drove down from London and stayed overnight. Mr Charles said: “It’s good the weather, it hasn’t been as bad as what the forecast said. It’s been showering.”
Leo Gonzales, 54, an NHS nurse, said he and his friends had driven from London on Saturday in what he described as a “quite smooth” journey.
He said despite getting “drenched” everybody was having fun, as he returned for the third time to Brighton and Hove Pride.
He added: “It’s because of the fun, the beautiful faces of different people.
“It’s so friendly, like a family, the community is very engaging and inclusive.”
This year’s event, with the theme Dare To Be Different, marks the 50th anniversary of the first Brighton Pride march, organised by the Sussex Gay Liberation Front in July 1973.
Mr Kemp said: “Those early pioneers 50 years ago who put their head above the parapet in different times, it was a very different environment for LGBT people at that time.
“We’re recognising the trailblazers around the city, we have lamp posts around the city of people who have been part of the movement and are current trailblazers. We’re celebrating being different.”
He said that while Pride is about celebration it is also about protest and in the UK “we’re standing by our trans siblings”.
He added: “There’s a feeling from the LGBT community we’re being slightly politicised for political reasons, when people really should be focused on the real issues like the environment, cost of living, the things that really affect lives.”
