VE Day Portsmouth: Gunwharf Quays to host 1950s street food festival as sales and visitor numbers boom

Gunwharf Quays is hosting the event alongside the return of the British Street Food Awards. Speaking to guests at a Tourism Week event at Portsmouth International Port, centre director Yvonne Clay set out the celebrations.

She said: “It’s the 80th anniversary this year, so we’re going to put lots of bunting out and hope to get a really lovely 1950s street food vibe going on. It’s very special as my mum was eight-years-old on VE Day and remembers it all really well, so she’ll be reminiscing and eating some lovely street food.”

Victory in Europe Day, shortened to VE Day, celebrates the formal acceptance by Allied forces of Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender of its armed forces on May 8, 1945 - marking the end of all of its military operations. Portsmouth residents have already been invited to host street parties to mark the memorable anniversary. Other official events are expected to take place but have yet to be revealed.

The move by Gunwharf Quays comes as it announces its most successful year for sales and visitor numbers. In the year to March 2024-2025. the popular shopping centre saw a footfall of 7.6m people.

Ms Clay added: “We will have our biggest year of sales coming at the end of March this year. Not only that, we will also have our most successful year ever in terms of footfall. We’re really excited. We all know how challenging Covid was and how challenging the retail industry is, so to be able to come out of that and be in this position in 2024/2025 shows there is resilience in the retail market.”

The centre director said £5m has been invested during overnight works to spruce up the shopping centre without it closing. Ms Clay added that hosting events is what makes Gunwharf Quays stand out. She said: “What we have and what makes us special is that we can host events that can have community and do all sorts of things that impact the city really positively.”