SINGING sensation Matt Cardle, this year’s X Factor winner, surprised punters at the weekend when he dropped into a bar.

The star, from Little Maplestead, in north Essex, enjoyed a night out with his friends at LP in Bury St Edmunds, on Saturday.

The number-one selling artist sang at the opening of the venue, in Woolhall Street, and also helped to decorate it prior to his X Factor fame.

David Stapleton, a director of LP, said those at the bar had known Matt for a few years, and he had popped in a few times since the ITV show.

He said: “We were to capacity from about 10.30pm, a couple of hours before he even got here, but there were quite a few fans who were interested in getting a photo.”

Mr Stapleton said despite Matt’s X Factor stardom he was “exactly the same”. He described him as good with the public and down to earth.

“I would also like to thank our clientele as they acted respectfully towards Matt and his friends who really just came down to enjoy the music and have a drink like everyone else,” he said.

Sophie Claydon, 18, of Wheatfields, Thurston, was in another bar with her friends when they heard Matt might be making an appearance at LP so carried on there to see him.

Miss Claydon, who works at St Edmundsbury Borough Council, said: “I didn’t really speak to him. I just asked for a picture and let me take one. He was quite friendly.”

She said the atmosphere was “quite crazy” in there, but Matt was superb.

The former painter and decorator, shot to fame when he won the last series of the X Factor.

The ex Stoke College student scored last year’s Christmas number one with his debut single When We Collide.

Recently, Matt was in Sudbury on a shopping trip to buy a phone charger when crowds of fans gathered to meet him.

Another of his links to Bury St Edmunds is that he recorded a demo at The Shrubbery Recording Studio, off Eastern Way, with his band Darwyn, which wound down.