Given the importance of this news to so many My Little Pony fans in the UK, I've chosen to post this tonight rather than wait. For that reason, and to give people a little time to digest the news, Ponyfic Roundup will now appear on Friday. Apologies for any inconvenience, as they say when there are temporary traffic lights in the town centre for 874 days running. Anyway...
Earlier on this evening, UK PonyCon announced the dates and venue for this year's 21st iteration of what has become the world's longest-running My Little Pony convention. And they are:
Friday 3rd (evening), Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th October 2025
The Birmingham Conference and Events Centre
That's right – after being in Nottingham since 2018, UKPC is on the move! Those who've attended (or at least known of) the convention for many years will recall that, before it moved to Nottingham, it tended to move around the country. In a way, then, this is a return to the event's roots. Although I know Birmingham fairly well (since I only live 20-25 miles away) I don't think I've ever attended an event at this particular venue, so I can't comment on that.
What I can say is that the place is extremely well connected. As the BCEC's website shows, it's within sight of Birmingham New Street Station, the city's main rail hub – and that is a ten-minute train ride from Birmingham International Airport. As you'd expect from a city with a population of well over a million, 3-4 times that of Nottingham, Birmingham has no shortage of hotel options in the centre either. Whether I'll actually stay over or commute in (if I go – as usual, I can't commit just yet!) I don't know.
As the PonyCon folks say in their announcement post (not yet fully updated) this year it will be possible to stay at the venue, with a special rate for attendees forthcoming. That's not yet live, so be aware of that if you do the instabooking thing. UKPC hasn't been held in a hotel since it was in Leicester in 2014 and 2015, but I remember that plenty of people took the opportunity to stay on site back then. The other big change is the addition of an extra music event on Friday evening, The last con I attended that did that was BUCK 2014!
Lots to think about, but this has blindsided a lot of us as we didn't really expect UK PonyCon to be able to secure a venue in Birmingham city centre. The initial reaction I've seen has been really very positive, though, so I'm feeling pretty optimistic about it all as I type this. Many thanks and congratulations to the convention committee for managing to get something so complex and impressive worked out.
As much as I was quite happy with Birmingham (accommodation costs and travel time excepted), it's too right this is causing a stir. It'll feel fresh just due to the locale, and the place will no doubt be big enough to accommodate everything. I wonder how the small panels making use of the college lecture rooms will fare, if the venue here will still suit that well. Can't know until we get there, but I'm sure it'll be fine.
ReplyDeleteI do wonder what the con tickets will cost – possibly there may be a hike due to venue cost. A hike greater than we usually see year-on-year. Of course, venue convenience will counterbalance that. The sheer volume of hotels available in a big city means options to stay are cheaper too, long as one isn't using the hotel the con is in (let's just say the combined discount would have to be huge to justify it, except for the convenience factor, which is a fair one). Myself, that and the time/money save from a quicker commute is already a big plus, before the freshness and the feel
Others have noted being right by a major UK airport and with lots of hotels will probably increase international interest – we could be looking at a second consecutive attendance record! What's for certain is that the con is functioning better than ever despite there being no active MLP generation. Truly an evergreen fandom on the level of Star Trek, we are.
The excitement may fade, but for now, I'm already quite pumped off this. Next five months can't go fast enough.