Plush Luton Hoo Hotel was the venue for an event to further ramp up promotion of the town’s city status claim.
Dignitaries, business leaders and guests gathered to celebrate the bid, which could generate a potential £5bn investment windfall for the area.
Speeches were given by Luton North MP Kelvin Hopkins and Luton Borough Council’s regeneration boss, Colin Chick, while dance performances reflecting the town’s culturally diverse mix highlighted exactly why it deserves city status.
The bid was formally handed over outside the Cabinet Office in London in May, marking the end of a ten month campaign in which the town has sought to emphasise the extent to which all of its communities are united behind it. The Love Luton campaign has already raised more than £100,000 from businesses.
More than 20 towns hope to secure the potentially lucrative prize of city status, which Sunderland reported created 30,000 new jobs.
The winning bid is expected to be announced in February 2012 while five months later the Olympic torch will be coming to Luton.
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