IT STARTED out as a showcase of talent for regulars at a York pub but has quickly grown into a major competition attracting acts from all over North Yorkshire.

The owners of The Ainsty pub on Boroughbridge Road admit they have been taken by surprise at the range of talented and bizarre performers turning up at the Friday night heats of The Ainsty’s Got Talent.

Landlord David Hyde said: “The idea just came to us off the back of the Britain’s Got Talent TV show and we just thought we would give it a go for ourselves. “The standard of entrants has been ridiculously good; we have had dance troops, and an opera singer and even a strange lad who kickboxed a punchbag while singing.”

The competition, which entered its third week last night, was advertised on social networking site Facebook. David said he and his wife Wendy had been worried nobody would turn up.

“But in the first week we had someone from Scarborough and someone else from Knaresborough,” he said. “We had a 14-year-old opera singer and when got up and when started to sing the hairs on the back of my neck just stood up.

“Word’s really getting around and I’m getting a bit worried we are going to get too many people.”

Eight performers battle it out each Friday night infront of a panel of judges but it is the audience which decides who will go through to the next round. David said all the runners-up will be invited back for a special evening where a wildcard contestant will be chosen to go through.

The final takes place on June 21, with the winner earning themselves a £500 cash prize and a slot on the stage at the York Apollo Festival on June 29.