Revellers have been hugging, kissing and dancing shoulder-to-shoulder at the first legal club night for more than a year.

In a return to scenes not witnessed in the UK since March 2020, 3,000 clubbers have piled into a warehouse rave at the docks in Liverpool.

The Covid-secure event was held to test whether it’s safe for large-scale, non-socially distanced nights-out to return.

All those who attended had to produce proof of a negative test result before entry while they will also have to take another test in five days time.

Promoters Circus are holding another sold-out event in the same location tomorrow, with another 3,000 people set to attend.

DJs including Fatboy Slim are performing to the crowds on Saturday while Friday’s line-up featured Circus founder and DJ Yousef, Lewis Boardman and The Blessed Madonna.

Inside the Bramley-Moore Dock warehouse, crowds packed the floor to dance and socialise together.

Some club-goers sat on each others’ shoulders for a better view of the stage while there were no face masks in sight.

Sam Newson, the event producer, said the pilot was ‘vital’ after the events industry had been ‘decimated’ over the last year.

He said: ‘For the last 12 months, it has been a disaster. People have moved on, I’ve got colleagues who have lost houses, it has been incredibly hard and so to try and get this back up and running is incredibly important.’

He added: ‘I stood on stage early on and I had a little bit of a teary eye, I’m not going to lie, it is very emotional.

‘Any event is special but with the amount of work that has gone into this and to be the first in the country in over 12 months, it is very special.’

As well as testing negative for Covid, the clubbers had to live in Liverpool and be registered with a local GP so any outbreaks could be monitored.

Scientists have set up a tent next to the venue to they can study whether crowds mixing and dancing indoors increases the risk of transmission of the virus.

Air quality and movement was also being monitored as part of a Loughborough University-led study to create clear guidance on how to design and operate non-domestic buildings to minimise risk.

The results will be fed into the Government’s lockdown roadmap and help determine how clubs will be allowed to reopen.

Currently all restrictions on nightclubs are set to be relaxed after June 21.

One of those present, Aodghan Fegan, 21, said: ‘I hope it all goes well and hope the Covid levels still stay low so there’s more events like this.’

Speaking in the queue to get into the event, Leah Lawless, 18, said she and her friends had been waiting to return to clubs for around a year.

‘We are very excited. It’s been hard, it’s been boring, a bit sad, depressing and not the best,’ she said.

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