SINGER and presenter Fleur East kick started a national radio station’s UK Summer Staycation tour in Bournemouth.

The Hits Radio Breakfast Show was broadcast from Hot Rocks at Pier Approach on Friday.

The team from the show headed off on their special Fleur East tour bus and came to Dorset for the first leg of the three-destination trip.

Asked what is was like to bring the breakfast show to Bournemouth, Fleur, who has links to the area having grown up in Broadstone, told the Daily Echo: "It is gorgeous. We have gone through the pandemic broadcasting all the way through and we went from doing it in our rooms to then going into the studio and then to be outside having this beautiful beach.

“The sun is shining, we are so lucky. It is a beautiful place to be.

“We played crazy golf, we had a penalty shootout on the beach and digging for prizes for Hits Radio and we were on a yacht on Friday night.

“We have just been living our best lives.”

She added: "It was nice to bring the guys here because this is where I grew up and all my family still live here in Broadstone, so we used to go down to Sandbanks, come to Bournemouth and this is like my second home.”

Bournemouth Echo: Tom Grennan performs at the Harbour Heights in Poole as part of The Hits Radio breakfast team's visit to Dorset. Picture: Kenny BrownTom Grennan performs at the Harbour Heights in Poole as part of The Hits Radio breakfast team's visit to Dorset. Picture: Kenny Brown

Fleur started the tour with a bang as she was joined by Tom Grennan at Harbour Heights in Poole.

He put on a performance of ‘Little Bit of Love’ while overlooking the Sandbanks, the first time he’s been able to perform the track in a live environment.

Tom then joined Fleur for a penalty shoot-out on the beach to predict the next England score for the game on Saturday night.

The breakfast show was live on Friday, with listeners winning a lot of prizes in the form of buried treasure from the beach.

Bournemouth Echo: Fleur East at the beach for Hits Radio Breakfast Show's UK Summer Staycation Tour. Picture: Kenny BrownFleur East at the beach for Hits Radio Breakfast Show's UK Summer Staycation Tour. Picture: Kenny Brown

Discussing the challenges of hosting a live radio show out on location, Fleur said: “It is a real challenge but what is quite nice is everyone gets to hear that we are actually out on location and the seagulls were joining in during the morning – they were very loud.

“But it is cool as well because we were talking about staycations all throughout the pandemic and we had a lot of listeners call in and suggest places to go. Bournemouth was one of them and so here we are.”

Bournemouth Echo: The Hits Radio breakfast team during their Staycation in Bournemouth. Picture: Kenny BrownThe Hits Radio breakfast team during their Staycation in Bournemouth. Picture: Kenny Brown

On Bournemouth as a summer destination, she said: “We forget that we have gems here in the UK and we really do. When we arrived here on Thursday, everyone was like ‘it’s like the south of France’. It is stunning. The beaches are beautiful, the people are lovely.

"We had ice creams and it was like a throwback to when we were kids."