Skip to content

Back of the net! Alan fans to return to Norwich

Zoe ApplegateNorfolk
News imageBBC Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge looks animatedly at the camera with a sign behind him that reads "Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge".BBC
Alan Partridge started his career on screen in 1994 on chat show Knowing Me, Knowing You

Festival organisers have promised that a returning event celebrating a cult hero will be Jurassic Park.

We're Just Fans, Alan: The Second Festival will be held at Mercure Norwich Hotel, doubling up as fictional broadcaster Alan Partridge's Linton Travel Tavern home from home.

Tickets go on sale on 5 January for the not-for-profit convention, with 250 fans expected to travel from as far as Norway to Partridge's Norfolk home.

Organiser Paul Wassell said he was "tremendously excited" to be bringing back the event, which is set for 27 February 2027.

News imageSteve Coogan as Alan Partridge in a radio studio with an old-style phone behind him. He has headphones on and is drinking from a Radio Norwich mug. He is wearing a blue, grey and black patterned jumper.
The fictional broadcaster took on a twilight stint at his local Radio Norwich station

The first festival was delayed by 17 months and finally took place in October 2021 after the original date was postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr Wassell, 40, from Stourbridge, West Midlands, initially planned to repeat the event the following year, but it became too difficult to organise on his own.

He has now put together a committee and resolved a few weeks ago to organise a second festival after some friends agreed to help.

News imagePaul Wassell Paul Wassell is right on the photo, he is looking up at the camera and is wearing a blue T-shirt. His partner Karen is on the left and also looking up at the camera and has dark hair falling into her face. They are sat next to an open picnic hamper.Paul Wassell
Paul Wassell is setting up the festival with the help of some friends including his partner Karen (left)

Mr Wassell, director of an educational publishing firm, said the event was being put together "out of passion and nerdiness rather than... making money".

"We want to deliver a convention that is worthy of Alan Gordon Partridge and, given the positive feedback we received from previous attendees, we think we can upgrade the festival and make it truly textbook."

Attendees will once again have a chance to dust down their Partridge-inspired sports casuals, enjoy the table centrepieces – expected to include trivia gems such as a 1970s Cliff Thorburn snooker skills book – and possibly take part in another air bass guitar contest.

Alan Partridge returns from Saudi Arabia to take a deep dive into mental health issues in his own inimitable way

Mr Wassell said the competition was a "unique experience and people willingly put aside any notion of dignity for the sake of a good laugh".

He added they were also planning an appearance by a mystery guest.

When asked if he thought the egotistical character, played by Steve Coogan, might enjoy the festival himself, Mr Wassell said Partridge would be both "honoured and horrified".

"Alan loves any attention that goes his way, but I think he'd be quite terrified of being surrounded by lookalikes travelling from as far as Norway, Chester and Stoke, and constantly quoting his own words in his face," he said.

News imageSteve Coogan as Alan Partridge at the wheel of a cruiser on the Broads. He is wearing a captain's hat. a white shirt and a cravat and is posing for the camera, with his arms wide open.
I'm Alan Partridge featured the hapless host on the BBC between 1997 and 2002
More on this story