IN PICTURES: McFly, Gok Wan and Sophie Ellis-Bextor at Pub in the Park St Albans

Foodie festival Pub in the Park 2022 kicked off in St Albans on Friday night with McFly headlining the music stage.

With the festival site in Verulamium Park already built, organisers decided to go ahead with the food and music extravaganza, despite the event taking place a day after the death of Her Majesty The Queen.

Promoters have, however, postponed next week's planned festival in Brighton to 2023.

A statement from Pub in the Park before the St Albans event opened said: "It is with great sadness that the team at Pub in the Park heard the news of the death of Her Majesty The Queen.

"Our St Albans event, which is already built and ready to open will go ahead this weekend, and we will seek to provide the community of St Albans with an opportunity to respectfully celebrate Her Majesty's life and share in our nation’s grief.

"During each session of this weekend’s event there will be a moment of remembrance for all attending, and throughout the weekend we will be hosting a memorial area offering all attendees an opportunity to lay a flower in tribute to her."

Hosted by Sunday Brunch presenter Simon Rimmer, Friday night's session in St Albans featured an opening DJ set from Gok Wan.

Murder on the Dancefloor singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor also performed a main stage music set having earlier in the evening joined husband Richard Jones for a cooking spot on the Miele Chef Demo Stage.

The opening night of PITP was closed by headliners McFly, with the quartet of Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd entertaining the St Albans crowd with their biggest hits.

Dodgy, Melanie C and Kaiser Chiefs played Pub in the Park on Saturday afternoon.