Seafest celebrates city’s connection to the sea - come rain and shine

17th September 2025

Thousands of people turned out to enjoy Seafest, held across Plymouth's waterfront this past weekend. Despite challenging weather conditions, especially on the Sunday, the sea-inspired festival’s wide range of events and activities was suitably adapted, ensuring visitors could still dive into a weekend of culinary delights and marine themed fun.

This year’s Seafest, in partnership with Plymouth Waterfront Partnership, Plymouth Sound National Marine Park and Plymouth City Council, spanned the waterfront; from the Barbican and Sutton Harbour to Mount Batten, from Tinside Lido to Trinity Pier, to the Royal William Yard and across to Mount Edgcumbe.

Seafest is supported by the businesses from the Plymouth Waterfront Partnership. The Plymouth Sound National Marine Park Horizons Project has been made possible thanks to money raised by National Lottery players with £11.6million of funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Kim Downer, Deputy CEO, Plymouth Waterfront Partnership said: “For primarily outdoor events such as Seafest, we, of course, always hope for favourable weather conditions but sometimes it’s just not to be – we were able to make quick adjustments and move activities and entertainment indoors, which enabled us to continue to deliver a fantastic weekend celebrating Britain’s Ocean City and our connection to the sea.

A huge thank you must go to all our visitors, event partners, traders, chefs, entertainers, bands and singers, who attended Seafest and embraced, with true Plymouth spirit, everything that Mother Nature had to throw at us this weekend!

Thank you also to this year’s Seafest sponsors Plymouth Boat Trips, PL1 Events, and Venton’s Devon Cyder, the official bar sponsor.”

Elaine Hayes, CEO, Plymouth Sound National Marine Park: “Seafest has been a fantastic celebration of Plymouth’s connection to the sea. We were thrilled to see so many people engaging with the sea-themed activities on offer, and getting hands-on with our National Marine Park teams and partners, learning about accessing the ocean and how to care for it.

"Events like this help deepen our connection to the sea and everything in, above and around it and we are grateful to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for their support, helping us to make Seafest such a success.”

Visitors were able to watch local chefs cook up a storm with sustainably caught seafood at the returning cookery theatre, and enjoy the fish auction held each day by Ben Squire, supported by Seafish, with all proceeds going to The Fishermen’s Mission. Plymouth Fishing and Seafood Association did an excellent job hosting the cookery theatre with behind-the-scenes support from City College Plymouth students. 

Whilst some necessary changes were made to the Seafest programme due to the weather, visitors were also able to listen to local bands and singers; on Saturday on the stage situated on West Pier and on Sunday, in the cosy atmosphere of The Maritime Inn. The inflatable sperm whale, with a theatrical secret in its belly, was a huge hit at Royal William Yard.

Subsidised and free public transport options provided by Plymouth Boat Trips, Mount Batten Ferry and Plymouth CityBus’ ‘Shark and Ride’ ensured that festival goers could explore Seafest safely and sustainably too.

Come rain, and shine, Seafest 2025 once again highlighted the city’s commitment to its marine environment, maritime heritage and fantastic community spirit.