Historic Tooley's dry dock hosts canal arts festival in Banbury

The Banbury Canal festival runs from 30 September to 1 October

A historic dry dock has opened its doors as it hosts a 10-day canal arts festival in Oxfordshire.

Music, comedy and theatre will all take centre stage during Dry Dock n Roll at Tooley's Boatyard in Banbury, which began on Friday.

The 254-year-old boatyard has teamed up with floating venue The Village Butty and Alarum Theatre to host the events.

Village Butty owner Richard Guard said: "We are on a mission to increase the overall jollity of the nation."

"Tooley's is massively important. It's the place where the modern era of the canal started with the start of leisure boating," he added.

Village Butty owner Richard Guard converted the boat into a floating village hall and boaters’ community centre’ in 2010

The festival will also include a floating market with 20 boats selling their wares, civil war re-enactments and local artists.

On Saturday, a new theatre production commissioned by Arts Council England will perform.

The play, called Rats, Ropes and Revolution, is about the canal boatmen's strike of 1923 on its 100th anniversary.

Matt Armitage, owner of Tooley's Boatyard, said: "We're really excited to get people in to see this really unusual venue which is normally a working dry dock.

"It's amazing how many people don't realise there's a canal running through the town. This is where the industrial revolution started."