COUNTY Durham remained upbeat despite heartbreakingly missing out to Bradford in the race to be the UK's next City of Culture.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries made the announcement live on the BBC’s The One Show that Bradford beat fellow finalists County Durham, Southampton and Wrexham to the title.

Read more: Heartbreak as County Durham misses out on City of Culture 2025 title 

But despite the setback, the region's leading political and industry figures were full of praise and we can "still celebrate all of the great culture in our region".

Mary Kelly Foy, City of Durham MP, said: “It is disappointing that County Durham has not been named UK City of Culture on this occasion. However, this bid has highlighted the extraordinary cultural heritage of our County.

“While City of Culture status would have been a great honour and opportunity- the creativity and collaboration between our amazing cultural organisations and institutions that the bid has fostered has highlighted the rich culture the County already has to offer.

“I hope we can now build on the momentum and positivity created by this campaign to showcase the uniqueness and vibrancy of Durham.”

Bishop Auckland MP Dehenna Davison tweeted: "Pretty gutted that County Durham hasn’t been awarded City of Culture 2025, but am so proud we made the final four.

"Our cultural journey has only just begun, and I can’t wait to see what our future holds.

"Congratulations to Bradford - I look forward to visiting in 2025!"

John McCabe , chief executive of the North East England Chamber of Commerce, said: “This is hugely disappointing but we will still celebrate all of the great culture in our region & showcase what we have here.

“Congratulations to Bradford & we wish them all the best for their plans.”

Tony Harrington, director of culture Durham, said: “I feels sad because we would have done a fantastic job but I’m not downhearted because we’ll still do a brilliant job with culture in County Durham.

“So many people have bought into this idea that culture can do fantastic things within communities and make places better to work, live, play, study and grow up in.

“We’ve put ourselves on the map. People now know about County Durham, perhaps they didn’t know about it before.

"Nadine Dorries said we’re going to get £125,000, hopefully we can get a lot more because they now know that we are in the game and we can use culture to make Durham an even greater place.”