PREPERATIONS are well underway for the 2016 Lancaster Music Festival, which is set to return with new venues added and artists flocking from afar.

The award-winning festival, which is due to take place between October 13 and 17, will exhibit acts from a list of over 250 applicants, showcasing a wide variety of styles from punk to classical to world music.

The festival is expecting to break last year’s record of 50,000 attendees and injecting an estimated £1.7M into the local economy.

It will once again feature a main stage at Lancaster Castle together with venues large and small throughout the city. The five-day event is free to festivalgoers, who can expect wall-to-wall entertainment with at least one venue open 24 hours a day throughout the weekend.

Festival Coordinator, Ben Ruth says “Each year this festival has grown and grown. I can hardly believe we’re now in our 8th year and still breaking each previous year’s records.

"One of the original aims of the festival was to highlight the quality, diversity and sheer quantity of live music in this small city."