World Beard and Moustache Championships 2027: Blackpool, and the German Village It Started In

Events

Every two years the best-kept facial hair in the world is judged on one stage. In 2027 that stage is in Blackpool — but the competition was invented in a German village in the Black Forest.

The Barber Journal | 14 September 2026

The Empress Ballroom sits inside the Winter Gardens complex on Church Street in Blackpool. It was built in 1896, holds three thousand people, and has spent its life hosting things that draw a crowd: the Blackpool Dance Festival every year since 1920, the World Matchplay darts since 1994, and the annual conferences of all three major British political parties. In August 2027 it will hold several hundred of the most deliberately grown beards on earth.

The bid was won by the Sandgrown Beardsmen, a local club founded by the barber and business owner Brian Eva. It brings the championships back to the United Kingdom for the first time since Brighton in 2007.

What is actually being judged

The organisers describe a field open to competitors of all genders, ages and nationalities, entered across what they call a wide variety of creative and traditional beard and moustache categories — including, explicitly, categories for artificial and fantasy creations. In practice that means the room contains two quite different disciplines side by side: full natural beards judged on condition and shape, and freestyle entries built into structures that take hours to set on the morning of the competition.

Full category lists and entry details for 2027 had not been published at the time of writing. Anyone planning to enter should watch the organisers' own channels rather than rely on the previous edition's classes, which change from host to host.

It began in the Black Forest

The first world championship was held in 1990 in Höfen an der Enz, a village in Baden-Württemberg with a population in the low thousands. It came out of the German club tradition — the same Vereins culture that produces shooting clubs and choral societies — and for its first fifteen years the event stayed largely European and largely informal. The World Beard and Moustache Association was only formed in 2004, and the fixed two-year rhythm in odd-numbered years dates from 2007.

Germany remains the most frequent host in Europe: Höfen an der Enz in 1990, near Stuttgart in 2013, and Burghausen in 2023, with Berlin in 2005 also listed in the championships' own published history.

Every host city on record

1990 Höfen an der Enz, Germany · 2007 Brighton, United Kingdom · 2009 Anchorage, United States · 2011 Trondheim, Norway · 2013 near Stuttgart, Germany

2015 Leogang, Austria · 2017 Austin, United States · 2019 Antwerp, Belgium · 2023 Burghausen, Germany · 2025 Pittsburgh, United States

2027 Blackpool, United Kingdom · 2029 Spokane, United States

The 2021 edition was postponed to 2023 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is why the sequence skips a cycle. For the years before 2007 the championships' own site additionally lists Ystad in 1999, Schömberg in 2001, Carson City in 2003 and Berlin in 2005; those early editions are less consistently documented elsewhere, and the naming of the host towns varies between sources.

The beards on that stage were not grown for the stage. They were maintained, daily, for years.

Why a working shop should care

Championship facial hair is a long project, and most of it is not done by the competitor alone. A full beard entered at world level has typically been growing for years, and the difference between a beard that reads well under stage lighting and one that does not is condition — skin that has not been allowed to flake, hair kept soft enough to shape without breaking.

That is ordinary chair work, done consistently over a long period. A shop with one or two competitors on its books tends to acquire a reputation for beard work well beyond those clients, because the beard walking around town all year is the advertisement. It is worth knowing which of your regulars compete, and worth asking.

Questions from the chair

When and where is the next World Beard and Moustache Championships?

In 2027, at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, England. The British Beard Club's events listing gives Friday 13 August 2027, 12:00 to 22:30. Confirm with the organisers before booking travel — the event's own site had not published full dates at the time of writing.

How often is it held?

Every two years, in odd-numbered years, a pattern that has held since 2007. The 2021 edition was postponed to 2023 because of the pandemic.

Where was the first one?

Höfen an der Enz in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, in 1990.

Which country has hosted it most?

Germany and the United States lead. Germany's confirmed editions are Höfen an der Enz 1990, near Stuttgart 2013 and Burghausen 2023, with Berlin 2005 listed in the championships' own history.

Where is it after Blackpool?

Spokane, Washington, in 2029, hosted by Spokane Beard and Mustache.

How many people compete?

The largest edition on record is Austin in 2017, with 738 registered competitors from 33 countries.

Can anyone enter, or do you have to qualify?

The 2027 organisers state the championships are open to competitors of all genders, ages and nationalities, across both traditional and creative categories. Entry procedures for 2027 had not been published at the time of writing.

Who runs the championships?

The World Beard and Moustache Association, formed in 2004, has been the governing body since. Each edition is staged by a local club — for 2027, the Sandgrown Beardsmen in Blackpool.

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