SOUTHAMPTON will have to battle it out with a record number of cities to be crowned City of Culture 2025.

A total of 20 places from across the UK have put in a bid to become the City of Culture 2025, but Southampton bosses say they remain hopeful calling the scheme "Southampton's moment".

The competition, delivered by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in collaboration with the devolved administrations, uses culture as a catalyst for levelling up areas outside London and putting new parts of the UK on the cultural map internationally.

This means Southampton will have to fight off 19 other cities in order to be crowned City of Culture 2025.

Entrants have been tasked with proving that they can put culture at the heart of their plans to recover from the impact of the pandemic.

Regions and groups of towns have been encouraged to apply in this competition, with a number stepping forward from across the UK.

Claire Whitaker OBE, Southampton 2025 UK City of Culture Bid Director, said UK City of Culture is a "great opportunity for any city" adding that "we have always known this would be a very competitive process".

She added: "Southampton has worked towards 2025 since 2019 when we achieved cross party agreement to bid, with the team in place for just over a year.

"This is time many other bidders might not have had and which we have used to consult across the city with residents and communities to really understand the needs of Southampton and the opportunities being UK City of Culture could unlock.

"We have also formed partnerships and garnered support from over 100 businesses and organisations and support of 9 neighbouring local authorities.

"I would love this to be Southampton’s moment, we are a fantastic city, with very diverse communities and so much untapped potential."

To ensure as many places as possible across the country can take up this opportunity, DCMS are awarding grants of £40,000 to successful longlisted places for the first time to support their long applications.

The winner, which will be announced next year, will take on the baton from Coventry as the 2021 UK City of Culture and be at the centre of the UK’s cultural spotlight in 2025.

Full list of bidders:

Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon

The City of Bangor and Northwest Wales

The Borderlands region, comprising Dumfries and Galloway, Scottish Borders, Northumberland, Cumbria and Carlisle City

Bradford

Conwy County

Cornwall

Derby

County Durham

Lancashire

Medway

City of Newport

Powys

Southampton

Stirling

The Tay Cities region

Torbay and Exeter

Wakefield District

City of Wolverhampton

Wrexham County Borough

Great Yarmouth & East Suffolk