Organisers say a weekend city centre festival helped lift the number of people visiting the city.

PrestFest ran for three nights in the city and celebrates the award-winning nightlife of Preston.

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The Preston Business Improvement District, who organise the event, said footfall in the city centre was up by 18 per cent on payday weekend in May.

Mark Whittle, Preston BID’s marketing and events manager said: “The weekend was a huge success in terms of promoting our city centre businesses and the night time economy in Preston. We are the only destination in the North West to organise and fund a campaign like Prestfest, specifically for this sector.

“We gave away £1,500 across the weekend, via the pubs, clubs, bars and restaurants, of which every penny went back in to supporting those businesses, that’s the way the ‘Preston Pound’ works, it cannot be spent outside the city. This was really well received by the venues and those that took part in our competitions and activities.

“As the only place in Lancashire to have won the Purple Flag standard for a safe and vibrant night out, events like Prestfest are important to profile why our city won the award. Prestfest is now an integral part of our annual activity and we look forward to it returning later in the year. We would like to thank the businesses that got involved and the many visitors that came to enjoy Preston this weekend.”

Prestfest saw mixed weather but it didn’t stop weird and wonderful creatures taking over the Flag Market.

The prehistoric monster didn’t seem to distract this young lady one bit from texting

Animatronics were brought in with a giant T-rex among the animals hanging about with revellers in the city centre.

Did you visit any of the PrestFest events? What did you think? Let us know in the comments below