BURNLEY will be at the centre of the dance music world for 10 hours when some of the biggest DJs on the planet will be spinning their tunes on May Day.

The Burnley Dance Music festival is the brainchild of Lancashire based DJ Paul Taylor who will headline the carnival of dance at the UCLAN Burnley Campus, alongside Seb Fontaine, K Klass, Radio One’s Danny Howard and Robin S.

Taylor was the mastermind of the legendary Retro at Angels nightclub in Burnley – when Carl Cox, Pete Tong, Tall Paul and Boy George all played Saturday nights for him.

And Taylor revealed that he wants to make his 2,000 capacity festival an annual event in the town. “I want to pull people back to the town because Burnley was once at the centre of the dance music revolution, and, sadly, now there’s not a club in the town I’d play, ” he said.

“Burnley needed to wake up and hopefully this might give it the kick up the behind it needs because this is a stellar line up of dance names.I want to turn a giant negative into a huge positive and bring some of that vibe we had then back to Burnley.”

The Retro king added: “This festival is a huge undertaking and we’ve got Robin S, for example, flying in from America to be here, so it is going to be really special.”

Taylor says his Retro sessions at the now demolished Angels represented the best days of his life and is convinced that the whole town will benefit from the new festival, “Angels, make no mistake, was as influential as The Hacienda in Manchester,” said Taylor.

“None of the music press wanted to write about an old mill town in Lancashire, but people came from Ireland, Scotland and London just to be at Angels.

“It was Burnley’s biggest attraction – the town was the hub of British dance music.”

Taylor was keen to praise Burnley Council adding: “They responded so positively when I went to them with the idea and they’ve given the event their full backing.

“They’ve been fantastic and I want to thank them for that.I’m very grateful also to the wonderful team at Burnley UCLAN who have worked so hard to make this happen.”

Taylor said: “Burnley was once famous for its Blues Festival - and I want to try and put the town back on the music map again.”

Local heroes Drop the Beat will perform while Bontan, D-Ramirez, Scott Hardacre and Big Kenny are also on the bill.

Burnley Dance Music Festival at Burnley UCLAN is on Sunday May 1. Tickets cost £15. Visit www.burnleydancefestival.com.