TOWN centre businesses are hoping to bring people back into Radcliffe with a day of live entertainment this weekend.

The Radcliffe Live summer fun day will see four live bands playing in the town centre Piazza on Saturday afternoon, as well as a number of sets from dance troupe Freak Dance.

The event has been organised by Radcliffe Business Group, made up of town centre entrepreneurs, as part of a scheme to make the area a hive of activity.

Eugene O’Donnell, owner of New Button garment alterations, said: “The whole idea behind this project is to put on a series of live events for the people of Radcliffe that will get them into the town centre when they otherwise might not be.

“Too many people will go to Bury, or Prestwich, or Bolton instead of coming into Radcliffe. There will hopefully be a few people there on Saturday who have never even been into Radcliffe before.

“It’s important that we make Radcliffe town centre as busy as it can possibly be and get businesses thriving again. A lot of us have taken a big hit in the last year or so because of the roadworks closing off Church Street West.

“That drove a lot of people away and we need to do whatever we can to win back that business.”

Local acts the Mighty Stone Cats, The Vincents, Groove Encounters and Idol Frets will be performing from 1pm onwards, and the festival will also include a mini funfair, bouncy castle, and children’s entertainers.

There will also be a prize draw to win an iPad Mini 2 to close proceedings at around 5.45pm.

This is the second live event Radcliffe Business Group has organised, after the inaugural Easter fun day, and there are plans for another to be held before the end of the year.

Mr O'Donnell added: “We are hoping that this can be a bigger event than it was at Easter. That was our first attempt at trying to put something on and we learned some lessons from it.

“This time we have put a lot more time into the organisation of it and have been able to put on a lot of things that will bring people in.”

To join Radcliffe Business Group or provide feedback and suggestions: contact e-mail Mr O'Donnell at sales@newbutton.co.uk or call 0161 724 5364.