Tunbridge Wells in Kent played host to Britain’s first motor show in October 1895, arriving just under a year after the world’s first – the Exposition Internationale de Vélocipédie et de Locomotion Automobile in Paris. Now, 130 years later, the town will honour that milestone with the Royal Tunbridge Wells Festival of Motoring on August 2-3, 2025.
Held beneath the Georgian colonnades of The Pantiles, this free-to-attend event will showcase more than 20 cars and motorcycles spanning the past 130 years of motoring history.
Highlights include a 1911 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, Jaguar D-type, 1960 Aston Martin DB4 GT Lightweight and Bugatti Type 35. These will be contrasted by a cutting-edge Hertz Team Jota Cadillac V-Series.R race car currently competing in the 2025 World Endurance Championship.
Fans of modern classics and hypercars won’t be disappointed, either, with models such as a 1984 Ferrari Testarossa, 1995 Porsche 993 GT2 EVO, Bugatti Veyron and Ferrari LaFerrari among those on display.
In many ways, the event echoes the spirit of the original 1895 Horseless Carriage Exhibition. Organised by then-mayor Sir David Lionel Salomons, that historic gathering featured just five vehicles – including the UK’s first imported car, a Daimler-engined Panhard et Levassor, as well as Salomons’ own Peugeot, a Daimler-powered fire engine and a pair of De Dion-Bouton machines.
The Horseless Carriage Exhibition proved a success, but was ultimately superseded by the London Motor Show in 1896. Tunbridge Wells wouldn’t host another motor show until 1961, with the final edition officially opened by Donald Campbell in 1966.
“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,” said co-organiser Daniel Cogger. “The fourth Horseless Carriage Exhibition will not only celebrate the 130th anniversary of the very first motor show in Britain, but will champion the thriving local automotive business in the area.”
For further information on the August 2-3, 2025 Royal Tunbridge Wells Festival of Motoring, click here.
