Sunshine puts a glow on the blues fringe festival

Not only were Colne’s Municipal Hall and Pendle Leisure Centre filled to the rafters for the 2016 Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival but the streets were filled with revellers.

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Festival head promoter Alison Goode said: “Everything just gelled together to make this one of the best festivals in a number of years.

“From the stages, to the open-air concerts in Market Street, the street buskers, the atmosphere has been great.”

Legendary label Alligator Records staged a showcase at The Muni, featuring a question and answer session with supremo Bruce Iglauer, before barnstorming performances from Selwyn Birchwood, Jarekus Singleton and Tommy Castro and the Painkillers.

And the Little Acoustic Stage, trialled at the Little Theatre in River Street on Saturday and Sunday, was a resounding success, with a number of artists sounding out the management about the prospect of performing there in 2016.

Town police were kept busy maintaining a regular traffic flow along Albert Road and Market Street.

Sgt Kim de Curtis, of Colne Police, said: “There were three arrests over the weekend of the blues. (This was) pretty good taking into account the thousands of people (in attendance).”

The officers praised the good-natured response from the vast majority of punters, with dozens of photo requests accepted with artists and fans.

Clued-up bar owners made the most of the festival fever, with a number of pop-up bars and new ventures located along the lower part of Albert Road.

The redecorated former JJs restaurant, at the corner of Brown Street West, reopened for the first time as the cafe bar No. 62, after a licence was secured by Shields.

Bosses at The Venue took over the front of the former Tubbs premises, at 82 Albert Road, hosting Stella Artois and Budweiser bars by a live stage, and The Green Chimney teamed up with the Worsthorne Brewery to provide extra street-side pumps.