BOURNEMOUTH’S town centre got a serious spring clean with the help of volunteers from a host of businesses.

Almost 40 volunteers from companies operating in the town centre joined town centre rangers and staff from Bournemouth Town Centre Business Improvement District (BID) to pick up 74 bags’ worth of rubbish.

The Big Bournemouth Clean Up was held to coincide with the national Great British Spring Clean and was part of a week of green initiatives held by the BID.

Taking part were McDonald’s, Sharkeys Sports Bar, Avius, Yorkshire Building Society, Skechers, Specsavers, BH2, HSBC, Bournemouth 7s and the litter-picking group Dorset Devils.

Paul Kinvig, chief operating officer for Bournemouth Town Centre BID, said: “A lot of people came in on their days off. It was really good of them to get involved.

“There were almost 40 people plus the rangers and our ‘clean and green’ team.

“We had 74 bags of rubbish including two deckchairs, a sombrero, one flip-flop and a large cushion.”

The volunteers targeted a host of sites including the underpass near Asda, Old Christchurch Road, Horseshoe Common and Richmond Hill.

Mr Kinvig said: “We concentrated on areas that probably wouldn’t normally get done – the car parks, the Dalkeith steps, Cotlands Road. It was really adding to what the local authority does, rather than re-doing it.

“We got all these bags, everybody left them at certain points at the roadside and the local authority picked them up. We tried to focus on the entry points where people park their cars or come from the station.

“We had one ranger in every group. We said if you see drug paraphernalia, don’t touch it, but there wasn’t that much,” he added.

The second part of the Big Bournemouth Clean Up will take place in September, to spruce up the town after a busy summer season and Bournemouth Air Festival.