Thousands of people gathered in Accrington Town Square for the Christmas light switch on headlined by Junior Andre.

The event, organised by #AmazingAccrington, saw thousands of families and friends gather in the town to celebrate the start of the Christmas festivities last night (November 23), two days before Blackburn's Christmas light switch on.

From 4pm, the main stage featured plenty of talented acts perform including a harmonious school choir performance, an impressive Michael Jackson tribute act and the highly anticipated singer and TikTok star Junior.

The 18-year-old son of TV personalities Peter Andre and Katie Price treated the audience to a mix of his classic singles and new releases before attempting to charm the crowd by personally gifting flowers to several lucky women.

Nathan Dawe’s “Flowers” was drowned out by the eruption of screams from swooning fans as the rapper weaved his way through the crowd.

Two people even returned the actor and singer's ‘tis the season of giving spirit' by throwing their bras at him on the stage.

After the end of his performance, Dominic Brunt who plays Paddy in Emmerdale, took to the stage for the switch on of the Christmas Lights.

The town square had transformed into a picturesque winter wonderland with the festive lights, sparking Christmas tree and (fake) snow falling all around.

The night ended with a dazzling firework display as people left the event with smiles across their faces.

Tim Jones, of Great Harwood, and his son and daughter have been looking forward to the switch on all week.

The dad said: “The kids have loved it. It’s good to be here and the whole night has been organised really well. We’re ready for Christmas now.”

Local resident Jane, 50, who was at the event with her mum and sister, said: “It’s been fantastic. Junior Andre was such a good performer, we loved it. The Michael Jackson act was really good as well.

“We’ve had a great night and it’s nice to see so many people turn up. Accrington needs a bit of joy.”

Murray Dawson, chair of #AmazingAccrington, said: “We wanted to go even bigger and better for the Light Switch On this year and we worked incredibly hard to deliver an event which everyone could enjoy.

“We were blown away by the response to our fantastic event and you couldn’t miss the big screen – we even made it snow, and definitely made sure everyone knew it was the start of Christmas!”