LIGHTNIGHT Liverpool organisers have declared Friday’s arts and culture free-for-all its best in its six-year history.

There are tough decisions to make on LightNight and his year there were an impossible 130 events to negotiate. Pubs, bars and restaurants were buzzing as thousands of people took to the streets on foot and on old-style MPTE buses for the the one-night festival that sees galleries, museums, heritage venues and arts spaces across the city keep their doors open late for special events and performances.

It’s a great chance to show off Liverpool’s amazing cultural offer, and remind people what’s out there not just on LightNight, but on every day of the year

This year, LightNight, which is funded by Liverpool City Council and Arts Council England, acted as the start of to a seven-week series of major events for Liverpool, One Magnificent City, continuing with the visit of Cunard’s Three Queens next weekend, the Mersey River Festival from June 4-7 and more.

Christina Grogan, director of social enterprise Open Culture which coordinates LightNight, said: “LightNight gets bigger every year and our sixth festival was definitely the best yet, with more than 130 free events taking place.

"We’re always overwhelmed by the incredible response the events get from the thousands of people who come out to see what’s happening and get involved. It’s a great chance to show off Liverpool’s amazing cultural offer, and remind people what’s out there not just on LightNight, but on every day of the year.”

This year the festival was themed ‘Looking to the New World’, to commemorate the 175th anniversary of the Cunard Line and the forthcoming arrival of the Three Queens from May 24-26. Audiences flocked to every corner of the city centre, from the Baltic Triangle to the St George’s Quarter, and took part in everything from interactive street theatre to screen printing workshops, Bollywood dancing and walking tours.

HEX//LightDiVision, with the Harlequin Dynamite Marching Band, was also declared a resounding success by organisers as hundreds saw the Dyad ManMachines perform a brand new commission for the event.

The Metropolitan Cathedral, Maritime Museum, Philharmonic Hall and Cunard Building all participated for the first time.