See the incredible outfits as steam punks stage 'spooky spectacular' in town centre

Shrewsbury's St Mary's Church was the venue for the Shrewsbury Steam Punk Spooky Spectacular yesterday, with stalls, music, food, dancing – and above all plenty of costumed steam punk enthusiasts.

The event, organised by Chantilly Grey, has been taking place since 2018 – apart from a break for the pandemic – and organiser Clare Harvey said they had been thrilled with the number of people turning out for the latest rendition.

Top hats, spectacular double moustaches, goggles, capes, feathers, walking canes, lace and goatees were just some of the sights from the visiting steam punks, while the church was packed with stalls selling clothes, jewellery, books, art work and more.

Mrs Harvey said: "We are really pleased with the turn out. There are lots of steam punks, lots of new faces and lots of 'muggles' as we call them."

She said that plenty of intrigued passers-by had stopped to take a look at what was going on, adding: "An awful lot of people hide behind the hedge to start with but they all come in eventually."

She said the event was aimed at all ages, with people enjoying the chance to dress up and be "splendid" while hanging out with friends.

"I think people like the community aspect of it," she said, "they travel round to see events all over the country and obviously in turn people from all over the country come here. They like to dress up, they like the escapism, it is just something different from the every day doom and gloom at the moment – it is just good fun."

Alice Horton, 28, from Shrewsbury was one of the steam punks dressed up for the day and she said: "Steam punk is one of those very close communities where you bump into people at events and meet them again. Everyone is just really nice."

The event will return next April with a date to be confirmed.