More than 20,000 people chilled out in blazing sunshine at yesterday's Cowley Road Carnival.

The theme of this year's carnival was an Eat The World festival with shops and restaurants setting up cafes on the pavement.

At the Our World Marquee in Manzil Gardens there were cooking demonstrations throughout the day, including Malaysian, classic Indian, Bangladeshi and Thai dishes.

Visitors to Cowley Road between The Plain and Magdalen Street from noon to 6pm were able to enjoy four sound systems and three live music stages, featuring folk rock, world music and local bands.

Up until a few weeks ago, plans for the festival had been scaled down due to a lack of funds, but then BMW stepped in and donated more than £10,000 to boost the range of activities available on the day. However, there was no procession like last year.

Zoe Brooks, of East Oxford Action, who helped to coordinate the event, said: "The event was meant to be scaled down but no-one told the punters or the weather, and I think we will have 20,000 over the whole day.

"That's a big boost for businesses on the Cowley Road, and we estimated last year that the carnival brought in £1m to the local economy because people enjoy it so much on the day that they keep coming back.

"We lost the procession this year and the big stage but there were a number of smaller stages and that meant the whole road was busy with the crowds spread out right the way along the road.

"You can't knock this event because people just love walking down the road and meeting their friends to have a curry and chill."

Businesses enjoyed a brisk trade as visitors strolled up and down the cordoned off traffic-free section.

Nicky Prangel, from The Polar Bear CD shop, said: "I'm normally the Saturday girl but we are having an incredibly busy Sunday. The carnival is definitely good for business."

Nils Detert, 35, and wife Naomi, 35, of Randolph Street, took their six-month-old son Zachary for a walk in his pram shortly after the festival opened.

Mr Detert said: "We live just round the corner from the Aziz restaurant so that is a real favourite, but we will try to sample a bit of everything."