Triple award success for Hopetown

Hopetown Darlington has won the Visitor Economy Award at the County Durham Together Awards 2024.

The ceremony, held at Hardwick Hall on Thursday evening (5 December), comes exactly a week after winning the North East Culture Award for Best Museum or Cultural Venue 2024 and hot on the heels of the Welcome accolade and Quality Assessed Visitor Attraction accolade awarded by VisitEngland.

The Visitor Economy Award recognises an individual, organisation or business who play a vital role in promoting the county as a safe and great place to visit, supporting the hospitality and tourism sector, and to help visitor economy.

Councillor Libby McCollom, Cabinet Member for Local Services, said: “Hopetown Darlington should be immensely proud of winning this award, which recognises the incredibly hard work undertaken by the team to make Hopetown Darlington a must-visit attraction in the region.”

Leona White-Hannant, Hopetown Darlington’s Development Director, said:

“We are over the moon to win the award and would like to thank all of the staff and partners who tell the story of Darlington's pioneering railway heritage here at Hopetown Darlington. We'd also like to send a huge thank you to our visitors and local community.

“The entire team is so grateful for this award win. Everybody across Hopetown Darlington works really hard to provide a quality visit for everybody who steps through the door. It is great to see the positive impact our hard work is having on the local community and how Hopetown is benefitting the local visitor economy in Darlington and Country Durham.”  

Other nominees in the Visitor Economy Award category included Bowes Museum and Weardale Railway.

Find out more about this triple award winning venue at Hopetown Darlington