A city centre became awash with colour as thousands of rainbow-clad revellers enjoy the county's biggest celebration of the LGBTQ+ community.

Families, couples and groups of friends young and old gathered along the high street in Canterbury to watch a carnival-style parade through to the Dane John Gardens.

Canterbury explodes with colour as LGBTQ+ festival finally returns to the city

Pride Canterbury is the city's first large-scale event for more than 18 months, and there are traffic problems in the area due the event coinciding with the planned weekend closure of the A2.

The schedule of events kicked off at 10.30am and will run throughout the day - across all areas of the city.

Headlining the festival are former boy band chart-toppers 5ive.

Organisers have booked some leading drag acts, including Cheryl Hole from RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, Baga Chipz and Danny Beard.

A range of stalls and food outlets, and a family area with inflatables and face-painters is on offer.

Also new this year is a third stage with a children’s area in Whitefriars.

Glitterbomb will keep people dancing into the early hours at Tokyo Tea Rooms, with guest appearances by Cheryl Hole and the Gossip Gays.

To find out what’s going on in the county and for all the latest entertainment news click here.

Read more: All the latest news from Canterbury