A RECORD amount was raised for charities through Brighton Pride this year – but its director is calling for more support from the business community.

The Pride team announced that last month’s event raised a total of £147,263.74, which will be distributed as grants to LGBT/HIV organisations through the Rainbow Fund, the Pride Social Impact Fund and the Pride cCommunity Fund.

The event was the biggest to date, with estimates from Sussex Police and Brighton and Hove City Council of almost 400,000 people attending over the weekend.

Pride managing director Paul Kemp said: “We are immensely grateful for the support of everyone who purchased tickets for the official Pride events, as well as our sponsors and local supporting businesses who have all helped us raise this record amount of Pride community fundraising.

“One of the biggest elements of Pride is the free Pride community parade which attracted almost 300,000 participants and spectators, many of who spend money with local businesses across the city.

“We really want local businesses across the city to benefit from the Pride weekend but, apart from contributions from venues within the Village Party zone, there has been a disappointing amount of support locally.

“Prior to Pride we sent over 2,000 letters by post to local businesses who benefit from the bumper Pride weekend brings, inviting them to support Pride’s fundraising for the Social Impact Fund but to date, no support has been forthcoming.

“Pride is a great event promoting the whole city to a national and international audience but it’s also about community and responsibility and surely this should be shared by everyone who benefits from the weekend and Pride hope more businesses will help with the fundraising effort in the future.”

As well as the 300,000 who took part in or watched the parade, almost 100,000 people attended Pride ticketed events and more than 100,000 people passed through Brighton Station during the weekend.

This year the weekend cost more than £1.8 million to deliver and brought in approximately £18 million to the city’s economy, with visitors spending money on accommodation, retail, food and drink.