The bright lights came to Knaresborough last Friday as the town’s establishments opened their doors for the premiere of Tinsel Town.
Tinsel Town, a Christmas movie starring Kiefer Sutherland, Rebel Wilson and Danny Dyer, premiered on Sky Cinema and featured some familiar locations, including Knaresborough.
To celebrate Knaresborough on the silver screen, Chain Lane Community Hub applied for funding for ‘Eventure Knaresborough’ through David Skaith, Mayor of York and North Yorkshire’s Vibrant and Sustainable High Street Fund.
The funding was awarded to Eventure Knaresborough as part of its wider bid to diversify the town’s free events programme. This includes helping to foster new partnerships and enhance existing offerings to drive sustained footfall and economic development.
This element of the funding supported pubs across the town, including The Hart, The Orange Grove and Market Tavern. Free food was provided to those attending the screenings.
David Skaith, Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, said:
“It is fantastic to see Knaresborough’s unique charm get the spotlight it deserves with the release of Tinsel Town.
“This community-led premiere is exactly the kind of project my Vibrant and Sustainable High Street Fund was designed to support.
“We know that films like this can drive tourism in a big way, so we need to make sure that our high streets are ready to make the most of this opportunity.”
Sue Vasey, Chief Executive Officer at Chain Lane Community Hub said:
“Eventure brought together all events organisers who are predominantly community groups across the town. They bring a massive amount of footfall across both high streets on Waterside and the town centre. We brought all organisers together to help make their events more sustainable.
“We also have funding for new events which we will be launching in January to bring more energy into the town and footfall for the businesses.
“The atmosphere is amazing. All the pubs are embracing it, and we are all looking forward to seeing what the fuss is about with Tinsel Town.
“We have had a Hallmark film here in the past but not a Hollywood film for a while. We are hoping that it will bring a lot of tourism into Knaresborough and be a hotspot for people to see where the film was made. It is nice to see our beautiful town showcased in this way.
Holly from the Market Tavern said:
“We are showing the Christmas film Tinsel Town that was filmed across Knaresborough and Wetherby. A lot of people have come out to watch the film. We have pizzas, popcorn and snack boxes from So! Bar, so it is turning out to be a nice night.
“We have had festive music playing all afternoon and everybody has been really hyped up for the film.”
Phase three
Phase three of the Vibrant and Sustainable High Street Fund is live for applications.
Further information can be found here.
Published Thursday 11th December 2025