The Royal Tunbridge Wells Festival of Motoring will return this year to celebrate the 130-year anniversary of the first motoring show to take place in the UK.

Royal Tunbridge Wells staged the first motor show in Great Britain in October 1895.

This was the first ever motoring show in Great Britain, and the milestone will be celebrated in 2025 through the new Royal Tunbridge Wells Festival of Motoring.

On 2nd and 3rd August, the Georgian walkways of The Pantiles will display more than 20 cars and motorcycles from the past 130 years.

The Pantiles was developed following the discovery of a chalybeate spring in 1606, and has now become a popular tourist destination, home to more than 70 specialist shops, restaurants, cafes and art galleries.

The festival will display more than 20 cars and motorcycles, exhibited by local and world-renowned specialists, restorers and racing teams, to celebrate 130 years of motoring.

Co-organiser Dylan Miles said: “We want to use this opportunity to acknowledge the local businesses, which often work on an international scale from humble premises in and around Tunbridge Wells.”

Miles added that he wants to use the festival as an opportunity to “acknowledge the local businesses, which often work on an international scale from humble We want to use this opportunity to acknowledge the local businesses, which often work on an international scale from humble premises in and around Tunbridge Wells.”

Some of the cars that will be displayed are the Bugatti Type 35. 1911 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, Jaguar D-Type, 1960 Aston Martin DB4 GT Lightweight and1984 Ferrari LaFerrari, and the Hertz Team jota Cadillac V-Series R.

At the inaugural ‘Horseless Carriage Exhibition’, Tunbridge Wells Mayor, car pioneer and scientist Sir Lionel Salomons featured his Peugeot, which used the same engine as the Panhard-Levassor, a 3.5hp Diamler engine.

Sir Salomons’ Peugeot was only the second car to be imported and driven on British roads.

Three other vehicles were displayed at the Horseless Carriage Exhibition including a Diamler-powered fire engine, while De Dion-Bouton exhibited both a tricycle and a ‘steam-horse’ manufactured by the French automaker.

Despite the success of the first motor show at the Tunbridge Wells showground, the London Motor Show took over the following year and the town did not host another Horseless Carriage Exhibition until 1961.

Co-organiser Daniel Cogger, senior manager of Hagerty Private Client Services, said: “It is a real honour to be trusted by the owners of The Pantiles and indeed the neighbours we live alongside in Tunbridge Wells, to honour the town’s place in motoring history by bringing back this unique celebration of the motor car. 

“The 4th Horseless Carriage Exhibition will not only celebrate the 130th anniversary of the very first motor show in Britain, but will also champion the thriving local automotive business in the area.”