Seafest is expected to attract 30,000 visitors

SEAFOOD IS AT THE HEART OF ANNUAL EXTRAVAGANZA

- WILLIAM TELFORD

UP to 30,000 people are expected to visit Plymouth's sea-themed food and entertainment extravaganza Seafest - which this year will bring live music into the heart of the waterfront.

Artists will perform around the Barbican including from a specially-built main stage at West Pier near the Mayflower Steps.

Acts such as Chudleigh Shantymen, The Quartermasters and Gozer Goodspeed and the Neon Gamblers will also play in bars and restaurants and street locations during the weekend festival on September 14 and 15.

The music is just one of several eye-catching additions to the annual celebration, with Southside Street this year closing to all but emergency traffic and businesses encouraged to set out stalls and stage demonstrations on the pavement.

Fresh seafood and other culinary delights are, as usual, the bedrock of the festival, organised by Plymouth Waterfront Partnership in association with Plymouth City Council and Plymouth Sound National Marine Park. There will also be dozens of mostly-free events and attractions, in and out of the water, across the waterfront from the Barbican, through the Hoe and West Hoe to Royal William Yard, and Mount Batten and Mount Edgcumbe.