Festival - Festival History - Jane Austen Centre Bath

Festival History

The first Jane Austen Festival in Bath was held in September 2001 over the course of a weekend with events taking place at the Jane Austen Centre in Gay Street.

Since then it has grown to be the largest and longest running Jane Austen Festival in the world with over 3500 people taking part over the course of the ten days.

The first Regency Costumed Promenade set out from the Jane Austen Centre in 2004 and had 30 people including most of the staff taking part. Today the Promenade attracts over 700 participants, from the very young to the young at heart, all in costume with drummers, dancers, military and naval men.

Take a look at the reviews of our past festivals for a better idea of what goes on:

Festival 2023