Music festival with 70 acts across four venues returns to Bolton town centre

Bolton town centre will welcome 70 acts across four venues this weekend, as the Right to Roam music and arts festival returns for a second year.

Headliners include Leigh band The Lottery Winners whose most recent album 'Something to Leave the House For' reached number 11 in the official UK charts. Jane Weaver, Will Varley, Ist Ist, and local favourites The Jade Assembly are also on the line-up.

The festival will take place on Friday and Saturday (July 8 and 9) and will be split between The Octagon theatre, as well as pubs The Alma, Northern Monkey, and Bar Four at The Vaults. Organiser Ivan Crompton said that he is happy with the range of musicians and other acts that the festival has been able to secure.

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"It took time but we wanted a good split of artists from up-and-coming artists to seasoned professionals, as well as a good balance of genders," he said.

"I think Jane Weaver is brilliant and she was one of the first people we wanted so I'm really happy she's on the line-up. I've been lucky enough to get quite a few big names and then we've got a few local acts and ones from our music project RockIt."

RockIt is a Bolton-based CIC (Community Interest Company) that gives young people the opportunity to form bands and then create, record and perform music. Alongside Ivan and his wife Julie, the project is run by Matt and Joe Carr of Carrs Pasties and Paul Welch from Bolton Gin Company.

"We started Right to Roam as a platform for these bands to play with really good artists who've toured all over the world," Ivan added. "I just wanted to put live music into Bolton and it's nice to do something collaborative with