Fatboy Slim gig a hit with Brighton licensees

Brighton pubs enjoyed a roaring trade at the weekend as 250,000 music lovers flocked to the seaside to watch DJ Fatboy Slim.

Thousands of fans spent the day in Brighton at the free dance party enjoying the sunshine and music and spending time in the city's pubs and bars.

And although there were doubts that the concert would go ahead next year because the police were unable to cope with the sheer volumes of people - licensees said they had a cracking day.

Mark Nixon, who runs the Walkabout, said: "It was a good day. We had no problems at all although it was madness out on the streets and there were people just everywhere."

Ian Dileonardo had to shut his pub - the Prodigal - at 9pm. "We were unprepared and just couldn't cope with the amount of people so we shut early at 9pm.

"But it was a brilliant day for trade and there was no trouble. We would definitely welcome it if they were to put the same event on next year."

A wet May and June had meant a miserable summer so far for licensees, but the weekend's beautiful weather ensured a good turnout.

However, the day was marred by injury. One man died of an heart attack and a woman was left critically ill after she fell from the promenade. Another 100 people were rushed to hospital. Police admitted that they were totally overwhelmed by the amount of revellers and had only planned for 60,000 turning up.

Today (Monday 15), an army of cleaners were still working to clean up the beach, which was swamped with more than 60 tons of rubbish.