VISITORS to a music and dance festival can look forward to an increased bus service this weekend with Bluestar.

The bus operator, which is supporting Beggars Fair on July 13, will be laying on extra evening buses between Romsey and Southampton.

The Beggars Fair is the largest free street based music festival in the South and will be held around the Romsey town centre. The main stage will be in The Cornmarket with further stages in Church Place.

Bluestar operations manager, Andy Shaw, said: "We are excited to be throwing our weight behind this fantastic line up of local music, dance and family activities by providing more evening services on our Bluestar 4 route - taking in Romsey, North Baddesley, Lordshill, Shirley and Southampton.

"This is a wonderful community event, and now people from right across the area will have the chance to leave their cars at home, enjoy the festivities, and then catch the bus back with us."

He added: "With parking in Romsey limited during popular events, we wanted to do something to help.

"Visitors can view our boosted timetable by visiting our website."

This announcement comes after organisers of Romsey’s free summer music festival urged residents to use public transport when they travel to the event.

The Beggars Fair organisers believe residents using public transport will help relieve the pressure on the town’s car parks.

Bluestar 4 buses will leave Romsey Bus Station for Southampton, via Lordshill, at approximately 55 minute intervals throughout that evening.

The extra services are scheduled to run at 8.10pm, 9.50pm and 11.20pm and the July 13 evening departures at 7.15pm, 9.05pm and 10.35pm will run as normal. Bluestar 5 to Eastleigh will also remain as timetabled at 8.05pm and midnight.

During the day Bluestar will allocate an additional bus to the B4 route for use if necessary.

As previously reported in the Romsey Advertiser, Mark Edgerley, Romsey town centre manager, said he welcomed this initiative which will offer a "much improved service" for visitors to the event.

The festival will take place from 11am and will boats more than 90 acts at 20 venues across the town.