Hull Folk & Maritime Festival plans to go bigger and better in 2025 after successful return

After a triumphant return for the Hull Folk & Maritime Festival this year, plans are already underway for next summer's event.

The famed festival returned in 2024 for the first time since before the Covid pandemic. Though the organisers only had a few months to get everything planned, the return was a success

Lloyd Dobbs, one of the organisers who brought the festival back, told Hull Live, "[The festival in 2024] went really, really well. It was the foundation basically. We [Lloyd, with Mark Pollard and Sam Hawcroft] took it upon ourselves to get it going again. We did it on a shoestring budget, with the help of The Minerva pub, Humber Street Gallery and the Hull Maritime Project and we did it, we pulled it off. It was a really good, successful event."

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The festival in its current form was established in 2012 to celebrate the rich history Hull has at sea, with traditional maritime folk music going hand in hand with the culture. However, the full history of the festival dates all the way back to 1963.

Folk Union One Club was established above Ye Old Blue Bell pub that year by The Watersons. Though the group would later disband, there was a clear love for folk music. 1990 saw the creation of the Hull Sea Shanty Festival, which underwent numerous name changes until 2011, and the current festival made its debut the following year. Lloyd wants to see the festival come back to its best.

He said: "We're going to do it differently next year. We want to grow it a little bit - in the past we've had gigs on boats, on the marina, a few gigs in venues outside the Humber Street area. We want it back to what it was in, say, 2016 and 2017. We had three full days of music programmed, this year we had music every day but it wasn't fully programmed."

While planning is still in its early stages, the organisers are hoping to draw more international acts. However, to make it even better, they're seeking some financial support to put on the free event.

"I think Hull's got a rich, great maritime history as well as a maritime and folk heritage, music wise", Lloyd added. "We want [the festival] to be free, but we need a bit of help to get it over the line. We're looking for a bit of help from local businesses who want to support such a great event that's important to Hull's heritage."

The Hull Folk and Maritime Festival is set to return in 2025 between July 11 and 13.

Keep up to date with Hull Folk & Maritime Festival updates on its social media found here.