Brixham Pirate Festival

About

The annual Brixham Pirate Festival, with a crew made up of first-time brigands and buccaneers, held in Brixham, Devon takes place over the Early May Bank Holiday weekend, is a swashbuckling mix of seaside shenanigans and pirate-themed fun for all the family. The Brixham Pirate Festival is a free to attend event that can only happen with the contributions and help from all of our amazing donors, sponsors, volunteers and friends please give what you can when you can to keep the festival alive - it’s never to late to donate!

Billed as “the annual gathering of the world’s most infamous pirates and lowly scallywags,” over the past decade the event has grown into hugely popular celebration of all things piratical. And all with the perfectly authentic backdrop of this charming historic port, which has been home to a number of smugglers and pirates over the centuries.

The Nao Victoria will be sailing into Brixham Harbour especially for the 2024 Brixham Pirate Festival, and will be available for viewing throughout the entire festival.

Wander round the harbour and discover all sorts of pirate antics, including live music, street performers, street theatre, balloon modeling, historical re-enactments, fancy dress competitions, children's activities and themed food and drink offerings. The daytime and early evenings are brilliant fun for all the family, while later on the adults can warm their tums with extra rations of rum in the many harbourside bars.

Come along, dress up as a pirate (an awful lot of people do) and even have a look around El Galeon. The whole town will be decked out in “skull and cross bones” while the sound of seagulls, shanties, skirmishes and with “arghhhh me hearties” floating through the air. There’s sure to be a real party atmosphere. 

Visiting Information

The Brixham Pirate Festival is an open, town-wide festival with the epicentre being on the harbour, with it’s main stage under the Old Fish Market.

While there are a number of car parks around Brixham, spaces to park are limited during the busy festival, so we also recommend using the Park & Ride which is located outside of town.

On Being a Pirate...

Anyone can be a pirate at the Brixham Pirate Festival!  Whilst there are no guidelines or requirements for dressing the part or how you want to express your piratical nature, there are some requirements that must be followed when it comes to the law:

Swords are allowed as part of your costume, but must be “peace tied” to the scabbard, belt or sash, using rope, leather thong or zip-ties.   Security will be on the lookout for weapons not peace-tied and they will have zip-ties on hand should you require a means of fastening them.

It goes without saying, swinging swords about or firing your flintlocks into the crowd is strictly a no-no!

Skirmishes & Reenactments

One of the mainstays of our glorious festival, are the live skirmishes and reenactments! Militia, military and of course piratical, forces clash in a fantastic demonstration at select times over the festival weekend.

During these demonstrations you will see swashbuckling sword fights, ships being boarded, firefights and cannon fire!

Whilst these demonstrations are safe and exciting, some of the gun and cannon fire can be very loud, so we suggest ear protection for children and animals, or to put a little distance between yourselves and the action.