See all 45 Pride of Portsmouth lions together for the first time

The Pride of Portsmouth lion trail may have finished, but there’s still one more chance to see the pride in all its glory.

After a successful summer celebrating Portsmouth’s centenary year, all 45 lion sculptures will be reunited at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard as part of the Our Naval City Festival. The event will give residents and visitors their first opportunity to see every lion together in one location after spending the summer across the city.

Since launching in July as part of Portsmouth100, the free, family-friendly trail has encouraged people to explore Portsmouth’s heritage, culture and communities while searching for 45 uniquely designed lion sculptures and a unicorn.

The trail proved hugely popular with app users, who collected more than 263,000 sculptures during the summer. In total, 11,799 people used the trail app and covered more than 3,000 miles while exploring Portsmouth. The most collected sculpture was One Hundred Voices: A Portsmouth Patchwork, while Cushty received the most public votes.

Cllr Steve Pitt, Leader of Portsmouth City Council, said:

“What started as an ambitious idea to celebrate Portsmouth’s centenary has become one of the highlights of Portsmouth100.

“The Pride of Portsmouth trail has brought people together, encouraged thousands of residents and visitors to explore different parts of our city and showcased the creativity, talent and community spirit that makes Portsmouth so special.

“As the trail has come to an end, we’re delighted that people will have the opportunity to see all 45 lions together for the very first time at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. It’s a fitting way to celebrate the success of the trail and look ahead to the Portsmouth100 finale in January.”

Charlie Langhorne, Managing Director and Co-founder of Wild in Art, said:

“It’s been wonderful to see the joy Pride of Portsmouth has brought to thousands of people this summer.

“Seeing so many people exploring Portsmouth, discovering new places and spending time together is exactly what these events are all about.

“The upcoming reunion of all the lions promises to be a spectacular sight and memorable finale to the trail.”

Visitors attending the reunion event will still be able to collect sculptures using the Pride of Portsmouth app. However, the trail rewards programme ended when the trail closed on 13 September, and no new rewards are available to claim.

The Pride of Portsmouth story will continue beyond the trail, with many sculptures moving to permanent homes across the city and beyond. Plans are also being developed for a future auction of selected sculptures, with proceeds proposed to support opportunities for young people in Portsmouth.

Further information about the lion reunion and the Our Naval City Festival is available from Portsmouth Historic Quarter.