FAMILY FUN - AND A HUGE BOOST TO BUSINESSES

THE West End Carnival brought fun, colour and thousands of people to Plymouth city centreand provided a huge boost for businesses.

- By WILLIAM TELFORD

With music and dancing, food stalls and vintage cars among the attractions, a bumper crowd enjoyed the five-hour spectacular in blazing sunshine.

Footfall in the city centre, on August 23, was up by a staggering 42.5% on the previous Saturday, with much of that attributed to the events in the West End. Overall, the city centre saw a hike in footfall of 4.2% year-on-year and 3.3% week-on-week, and Steve Hughes, chief executive of Plymouth City Centre Company, said: “Most of that must have been down to the carnival. I have never seen the West End so busy on a single day.”