DARWEN's biggest music festival is said to have attracted 'more people than ever before' in its 16th year.

Thousands of people from all over East Lancashire gathered in Darwen's market square and a host of other venues for Darwen Live as it welcomed huge names such as former Transvision Vamp lead singer Wendy James and chart-topping 1990's stars Toploader.

Organiser Trevor Maxfield said the town was busier than he'd ever seen it and felt much more family-friendly than previous years.

He said: "The whole two days were fantastic and the numbers were definitely up on last year, the town was absolutely packed from start to finish.

"It's become a real family-friendly event over the years and I think that's what is bringing more and more people here.

"The weather helped of course, it was tremendous. This is just going to get better and better every year."

The free festival organised by volunteers drew crowds to 15 different venues including The Belgrave, Number 39, The Crown, The Alexandra, the Darwen Library Theatre, Level One nightclub and its new sister venue Level One Live.

Along with main stage headliners James and Toploader, other big names made appearances such as Grandmaster Flash, Five, The Voice winner Kevin Simm, former EMF lead singer James Atkin and The Kar-pets, led by Inspiral Carpets frontman Tom Hingley.

And Darwen was equally able to show-off it's local talent with homegrown artists Leah Haworth, Fear the Fallen, Paul Stuart Davies, Paris Taylor and Johnny Pilkington all delighting crowds across the town.

Borough and town councillor John Roberts was at the festival all day on Sunday with the Darwen Town Centre Partnership Board gathering ideas on the three-day market's future from festival-goers.

He said he was amazed at how popular the event was and how much interest had been shown in the future of the three-day market, which was right by the main stage.

He said: "It was a brilliant two day s and we had loads of interest in the plans for the three-day market.

"I had never seen the square so full of people, particularly families."