PEOPLE could have been forgiven for not realising there was an ongoing recession, having seen Exmouth full of life and packed with people at the weekend.

PEOPLE could have been forgiven for not realising there was an ongoing recession, having seen Exmouth full of life and packed with people at the weekend.With the town's annual festival taking place, combined with superb weather, the scenes were gratefully received as far as businesses were concerned.Exmouth mayor Darryl Nicholas said, in economic terms, the bank holiday weekend should have been a 'cracker' for commerce.He added: "All areas of the town and seafront were busy."It just goes to show what can happen when Exmouth's triple offering of arts, leisure and the environment come together."It shows potential that the further we can build on the town's reputation as a vibrant area with quality of life at its core, the more days and weekends we can have like that."That's got to be great for Exmouth and superb for businesses!"Daniel Bradford, 41, owner of Sue's Pantry cafe bar in Rolle Street, said he had been particularly busy."We had a good weekend. It wouldn't normally be so, because when the weather is hot people tend to congregate on the seafront, especially on a Sunday, leaving the town relatively empty."With the Euro currency being so high compared to the pound, people are obviously holidaying in the UK. There were a lot of tourists in the area."Paul Taylor, 44, licensee of The Pilot Inn, Chapel Hill, said he definitely saw an increase in the number of people in the town."The sheer number of people in Manor Gardens over the weekend, for instance, was just incredible," he explained."I feel the local economy would no doubt have benefited."Taxi driver Denise Welsman, 45, said: "The music festival taking place in Exmouth last week attracted a lot of people to the area. It was really busy in town."The traffic was so hectic that it took some of our cars 20 minutes to drive along the beachfront."Rachael Taylor, 26, assistant manager of The Clipper pub, in the Strand, said local businesses, including the premises where she works, would have benefited from the large crowds in the town.She added: "Everyone seemed to be in good spirits.