THE resurgence of the humble gin and tonic continued at the weekend, with Bournemouth taking centre stage in what is becoming big business across Dorset.

More than 3,000 people packed out the two-day Gin Festival at Bournemouth International Centre (BIC), to sample a selection of home grown and international flavours.

According to the Wine and Spirit Association, gin sales hit record heights in the UK last Christmas, with more than 16 million bottles - worth £413m - sold in the 12 weeks up until the end of December.

Currently there are 315 gin distilleries in the country, which is more than double the number operating five years ago.

Among these relative newcomers are Dorset producers such as Conker Gin and Lilliput Gin, which are growing in reputation across the industry.

Last year saw a new gin bar, Ginjams, start trading in Westbourne, and Wimborne's Gin House is set to open at new, larger, premises this month.

Laura Walsh, assistant event manager at the Gin Festival, said: "There is definitely a growing trend for gin now.

"This is our third trip to Bournemouth but our first time at this venue.

"The main reason we've come here is because this venue is bigger, so we can cater for more people."

Miss Walsh says the popularity of gin was boosted in 2009, when Sipsmith, based in west London, won a two-year battle with HMRC for the right to produce the juniper-flavoured spirit in small batches. Up until then, regulations meant it had to be produced on an industrial scale.

"So now we have all these local producers, up and down the country, turning out their own versions using their own locally-foraged botanicals," she added. "Everyone seems to be getting on board."

During the BIC event visitors were able to sample gins from around the world, take place in a gin masterclass, taste gin-based cocktails, and purchase a number of brands.

Gin started out in life as a medicine, touted as a cure for gout and indigestion.

By the mid-eighteenth century, primarily because of it low cost, it had become the poor man's choice of tipple.

In London alone, were more than 7,000 'dram shops', ten million gallons of gin were being distilled annually.

When the government of the day decided to tax the spirit, its production was pushed underground.

However, Londoners' thirst for gin appeared insatiable, and the situation in the capital was famously portrayed by Hogarth in his print 'Gin Lane'.