In an effort to attract more people into the city centre this week Preston celebrated the ‘Purple Party’. Restaurants, clubs, show-venues, and pubs offered, and will continue to offer great discounts – as long as you wore somethingĀ purple.
Artists and street entertainers took to the streets on Saturday night entertaining the crowds until well into the night for the Purple Party Finale. An eclectic mix of Knights on horseback, fire-eaters, magicians, bollywood dancers and many more all braved the cold to cheer up the night time revellers.
Parts of the event were also filmed to use in Preston’s Christmas TV ad.
Preston by Night, the Purple Party was brought to you by BID Preston, the marketing and events group in celebration of Preston’s Purple Flag status.
In 2011 Preston had been officially recognised as one of the safest, cleanest and most enjoyable places for a night out. The city was awarded purple flag status – similar to the Blue Flag scheme for beaches – which it shares with Manchester, Oxford and Bristol.
The scheme assessed each area’s crime rates, hygiene standards and range of visitor attractions. It is run by the Association for Town Centre Management, an organisation focused on improving towns and cities.
The Purple Flag working group in Preston intends to work with the night time economy to maximise opportunities presented by the accreditation to significantly maximise the profile of the city centre to maintain and improve the standards of the night time economy.
See this set from Flickr of pictures from the night:
Here’s another set from Flickr taken by Paul D. Swarbrick:
And another from Gill Lawson:
Did you attend the event? If you did what did you think of the entertainment? Let us know in the comments box below