CROWDS of people enjoyed al fresco food and drink at the weekend and welcomed the first of this year’s Fossgate Festivals in York.

The Fossgate Festival sees the street completely closed to traffic, while traders host cafes, bars and stalls in the street with free entry for the public and live music and food available.

The festivals run throughout the summer, and organiser Zoe Plummer, from Ambiente Tapas and Fossgate Traders, said the attendance of thousands of people showed that the popularity of the event was growing.

She said: “It’s a very sunny street, full of people, exactly what we want. This is now the fifth year of Fossgate Festivals. We started off very small and very low key.

“By word of mouth and social media, we’ve really got what we set out to achieve, which is a busy street, through a very simple formula of closing the street, ordering some sunshine and getting on with it.”

Sunday was the first of this year’s events, and the first to take place under the brand new metal sign welcoming visitors to Fossgate, which Zoe said was very important.

The six-and-a-half metre sign spans the top of the street, between Sutler’s and The Terrace, and includes representations of fish which would have been sold at the Fossgate fish market in the 13th Century.

Zoe said: “This has been a collaboration between ourselves and York Civic Trust.

“We’ve raised £17,000 and have been very generously supported by York BID, Merchant Adventurers and the Civic Trust, and it’s really put us on the map with the sign that we deserve.”

The next Fossgate Festival will be held on Sunday, June 3, with following events on Sundays July 1, August 5 and September 2.

For more information follow @fossgatefest on Twitter, or go to facebook.com/fossgate