Revellers paint the town red to celebrate Bank Holiday weekend without tough Covid rules

Brits painted the town red on Saturday night, hitting the bars and clubs in force as the Bank Holiday weekend party hit full swing.

London, Leeds, Newcastle and Manchester were flooded with revellers as they headed out to celebrate the three-day break.

This weekend is one of the first bank holidays in 18 months that Brits have had the chance to enjoy without a full raft of tough Covid restrictions or lockdowns.

And many people were taking full advantage as the country's night time economy starts returning to normal.

London’s Soho was full of people taking advantage of the nice weather to dine and drink al fresco.

A woman has a huge smile as she receives a piggy-back ride from a friend (NB PRESS LTD)

While August's conditions have seen a dramatic mix of sunshine and torrential downpours, Saturday night was dry for much of the country so umbrellas could be left at home.

Saturday saw parts of the country hotter than Crete, as temperatures finally hit a 25C high.

There were some striking outfits on display in parts of the UK, as party goers put on their glad rags to take advantage of the longer three day break.

One woman in Newcastle swung from some scaffolding outside a kebab shop, where customers looked on (North News & Pictures northnews.co.uk)

Two people in Newcastle were geared up to party, with disco balls sitting atop their shoulders (North News & Pictures northnews.co.uk)

More unusually, one pair of lads were spotted in colourful suits with disco balls on their heads.

Elsewhere a woman was snapped swinging from scaffolding, while elsewhere friends were seen giving each other piggy backs through the city streets.

Some partygoers appeared to have taken the festivities a little too far though.

One woman was photographed looking rather ill, with a concerned-looking friend sitting beside her on a doorstep.

Elsewhere, a man in a checked shirt appeared to be pointing something out to a police officer in a fluorescent vest.

A group of men and woman out in Leeds were dressed in party shirts and animal costumes (NB PRESS LTD)

A group of girls were dressed to the nines, ready to hit the town in Newcastle (North News & Pictures northnews.co.uk)

Later in the evening, huge queues could be seen outside Manchester bars and clubs, as boozers geared up for a big night out.

With one more day to come from the three day break, there could be similar scenes across Britain on Sunday night too.

Although Brits will likely have seen the best of the weather already, the mercury is set to stay at around 20C with dry conditions so rain shouldn't put a dampener on the festivities.

But some revellers appeared to have taken the festivities too far (nb press ltd)

However, anyone coming back from three day breaks on Monday may well prepare themselves to get stuck in the traditional bank holiday traffic.

The RAC estimates a huge 16.7 million leisure trips are planned on UK roads for between Friday and Monday.

And with travel rules for many countries proving either too complicated or too pricey for many, a lot of Brits will have chosen to take a staycation in August rather than go overseas.