THOUSANDS of people descended on Bury St Edmunds yesterday as the eighth Christmas Fayre got under way.

Some of the roads in the historic town centre resembled a busy London shopping street as visitors and residents mingled round the hundreds of stalls dotted on Angel Hill, in the Abbey Gardens, Charter Square and Hatter Street.

There was also traditional fairground rides and on stage entertainment.

The bright autumn sunshine made it feel more like a spring day as the smells, sounds and the feelgood factor came to town.

The event, which has grown and grown over the years, has become the fourth biggest Christmas Fayre of its kind in the country and continues today and tomorrow.

Yesterday 40 coachloads of visitors had come into Bury with 60 planned today and a further 30 on Sunday with in excess of 80,000 people being attracted to the town.

Robert Everitt, St Edmundsbury Borough Council’s cabinet member for the community said he was delighted with the number of people at the fayre and said: “It gets bigger year on year and we are extending into other parts of the town. It has steadily grown and grown and we have over 300 stalls this year and it’s estimated to bring �1.5m into the local economy.

“It’s very much a team effort right across the town in organising the event and it’s a staggering achievement.”

The fayre was opened at noon by the Mayor of St Edmundsbury Christopher Spicer and was broadcast live on BBC Radio Suffolk.