It seems like a lifetime ago when revellers headed out for New Year's Eve celebrations at a time before anyone had heard of social distancing.

But as our gallery shows, the party was in full swing just three years ago when hundreds of people flocked to Weymouth and Dorchester for the fantastic 2019 New Year’s Eve celebrations and lively atmosphere.

As is tradition in Weymouth, most of the town centre was filled with people wearing fancy dress costumes to get into the spirit of the occasion.

People come from far and wide to join in with the legendary yearly display and it was great to see that the tradition was still going strong.

Fireworks filled the sky throughout the night and there were big crowds in town for the countdown to 2019.

Speaking at the time, Drew, a bartender at the Black Dog Inn on St Mary Street, said: “It was so busy and there was a great atmosphere around the place.

“For us working it was a long and busy night but it was really decent. We had a really nice crowd in.”

Sabrina from the Kings Arms on Trinity Road said: “We were really busy.

“I have no idea how many people I served but I couldn’t get off the bar.

“We all had a good laugh at everybody’s costumes and there were some that were really good, quite a few stood out actually.”

Vickie from the Globe Inn on East Street said: “It went really well and thankfully we had a lot of very nice customers last night. Everyone was in high spirits.

“One thing I noticed was I didn’t think I saw as many people in fancy dress as we normally do.

“A lot of people were quite happy to wear normal clothes and just sit down in the pub instead of getting dressed up and going to the clubs which was nice.”

The yearly tradition of fancy dress was in full flow in the clubs on the seafront, with people dressing up as all kinds of different characters and famous people.

People came dressed up in anything from a toilet to a cheerleader and almost everything in between.