THE south coast's LGBT community is getting ready to fill the heart of the city with colour and love.

More than 12,000 gay, lesbian and bisexual festival-goers and their friends will descend on Guildhall Square tomorrow for the fourth annual Southampton Pride, the south's fastest-growing festival of its kind.

S Club will headline the event this year joined by DJ Mikey and RuPaul's Drag Race star Charlie Hides.

There will be a total of 34 stalls and stands for party-goers to browse including LGBT Christians, The Queer Alternative, Cister, and Together for Mental Wellbeing.

A spokesperson from Southampton Pride said: "We believe that our event is so important for the city to celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion, in a world where there is still so much discrimination and hate.

"On Pride day, everyone in Southampton can celebrate together and just be happy being who they are without fear of judgment.

"Everyone is welcome to our free event and we look forward to seeing you all next Saturday.

"There is something for everyone so bring you children, your grandparents and your dogs."

The festival is a one day 12-hour event starting at 11am to 11pm.

This year, the Southampton Pride Parade will be taking a new route through the city.

The parade will kick off at 2pm, with participants arriving to set up for 1.30pm at Watts Park on Commercial Road.

The parade will start at the top end of Above Bar Street by the Pride main entrance at Guildhall Square and travel across Palmerston Park, Houndwell Park, down to Debenhams and along East Street.

It will continue up to the Bargate monument, up Above Bar Street and finally into Guildhall Square.

Anyone who is looking to take part in the parade is asked to go to the meeting area for 1.30pm.

Party-goers who are watching the parade will be able to view the parade anywhere on the route.

Southampton Pride 2019 will be taking over Guildhall Square, in the centre of the city.

The area is fed by a number of bus routes which take passengers to Southampton City Art Gallery or Above Bar Street - both stops being a two minute walk for the event entrance.

A 15 minute walk from the event is Southampton Central Station and to find the party just follow signs for Guildhall.