THOUSANDS flocked to Bournemouth for a vegan fair last weekend.

An estimated 4,000 people attended the event, where 90 stalls were selling vegan friendly food, drink and clothing.

The Bournemouth International Centre hosted the event, which ran on Saturday and Sunday.

This is the fifth vegan fair in Dorset since they were started by Dorset Vegan founder Lizzi Shaw in 2014.

Mrs Shaw started the event as a "passion project" and has grown the fair from 800 attendees in 2014, to the estimated 4,000 at the event last weekend.

The event took months to prepare, with a team of volunteers working at the fair to ensure it all went smoothly.

Speaking at the event, Mrs Shaw said: "We're really pleased, loads and loads of people are coming from near and far. There's a really good diversity of people coming.

"For me, these fairs are all about promoting veganism. They are not about saying to somebody: 'Go vegan today', it's about showing people the diversity of products, helping find the things that they love, having a really good time out, eating cake and chocolate and doing whatever they want to do, healthy or unhealthy, just having a good day.

"Vegan food does not have to be boring at all but sometimes it can be a challenge for people to think how to make it interesting if you're used to meat and two veg, so it's about helping people learn different ways to make exciting food with great flavours that everyone can enjoy, not just vegans. It is literally food for everyone!"

Mrs Shaw also revealed that Dorset Vegan are to host another vegan fair in Poole on November 12, in what will be a similar event size to the one held in Bournemouth last weekend.

On this, Mrs Shaw said: "I'm really excited to be bringing this to Poole. The Bournemouth vegan scene has exploded which is amazing, we've got four vegan places now where you can eat out. I'm super excited that Poole will hopefully join the crowd."