Mowbray Park

Mowbray Park is one of Sunderland's most significant historic public parks and is particularly suitable for large outdoor festivals, concerts, community events and temporary event installations. The park occupies approximately 71,771 m² and is located in Sunderland city centre, bordered by Burdon Road and Toward Road. Historic England records the park as a Grade II registered historic park and garden; the original park opened in 1857 and was subsequently extended in the 1860s. The park combines extensive grass and paved areas with landscaped gardens, a lake, children's play area, bowling green, bandstand, public art and the Mowbray Park Community Garden. Sunderland City Council confirms that the park is wheelchair accessible and regularly hosts concerts, events and educational activities. For event organisers, the most important feature is its large flexible outdoor footprint. The official Mowbray Park venue pack gives an event capacity of 2,000–4,000 people, depending on the infrastructure, event layout and areas used. It specifically identifies concerts, day festivals, private or corporate parties and community events as suitable uses. The park's bandstand provides a natural performance point and has recently been used for live music, poetry and arts programming. In August 2026, Sunderland City Council programmed both poetry and live music events at the Mowbray Park bandstand.