A FREE two-day community event featuring live music is being planned for Southbourne this summer.

Southbourne Revival is set to take place at Fisherman’s Walk on Saturday, July 27 and Sunday, July 28.

The event will feature a rock ’n’ roll and vintage-themed line-up with “upbeat” music on the Saturday, while Sunday will be more “laid back” with jazz and acoustic vibes. There are also plans for a licensed bar and around 40 trade stalls.

As previously reported, Shake and Stir Festival (pictured), which was due to take place in Southbourne on June 29-30, has been cancelled.

Last month festival directors said this year’s event was “no longer viable”, blaming “expensive controls, insufficient financial support and reduced investment from legacy sponsors” but said the festival would return in 2020.

Gordon Fong, one of the new event’s organisers, said: “Myself and Tony Hughes are lined up to take on Frankenfest in October but then when Shake and Stir announced they were postponing it, we thought it was a big shame because in the past few years Southbourne has been on the up and up and the two events really marked and celebrated the high street.

“We saw there was a lot of feedback on Facebook from people saying it’s such a shame so we put out a little survey to say who would be interested in supporting an event and would like to see an event and we had 1,000 responses.”

A JustGiving page has been set up to raise £2,300 and Mr Fong said around a third of the amount was raised within the space of a few days.

Fellow organiser Tony Hughes said: “The response from the local community, Southbourne on Sea Business Association, traders and Coastal BID has been amazing. That coupled with the phenomenal support from the local council events team has brought this event alive, a true Revival. There’s obviously a real appetite to bring back the vintage vibes this summer to Southbourne.”

Anyone who would like to be headline sponsor can contact organisers at the Southbourne Revival group on Facbook.