Goths paint Whitby black for 25th anniversary festival weekend

Now, 25 years on, the Whitby Goth Weekend regularly pulls in thousands of black-clad enthusiasts from around the world.

The latest edition of the festival ran from Friday through to yesterday, with concerts and an alternative bazaar among its main attractions.

Many of those attending found time to make the trek up to Whitby Abbey, the ruined monastery that helped inspire Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula – one of goth culture’s defining touchstones. And, in a sign of the weekend’s ever-burgeoning profile, the BBC Travel Show was due to film a piece about alternative model auditions that were held at Whitby Rifle Club on Saturday.

The goth – or gothic rock – music scene emerged from the tail-end of the punk era in the early 1980s, with bands such as The Mission and Fields of the Nephilim among its leading lights. Whitby is set to play host to a new goth and alternative music festival later this month, entitled Tomorrow’s Ghosts. Taking place from April 26 to 28, its headline music acts include New Model Army.