AN award-winning circus is returning to Clacton later this month due to popular demand.

Circus Fantasia will be presenting Clacton Pier Circus every day during the Whitsun holiday from May 26 to June 3.

It will also return to the pier’s Jolly Roger venue throughout the school summer holidays.

There will be two shows – at 2pm and 4.15pm – with a dazzling array of international acts from all corners of the globe.

There will be a host of juggling, acrobatics, high wire, aerial loops, and Clown Phillipo, as well as a good sprinkling of magic, mystery and illusion.

Circus boss Matthew Wingate said performing on the pier was a totally new experience last season.

“A great deal of work went into bringing the Jolly Roger back to life ready for the shows and it was well worth it,” he said.

“The audiences enjoyed it and all the acts had a great time – and we have plenty of new, spectacular talent from all over the world, never seen in Clacton before.

“We were very well received and hope that people will come back for more traditional circus entertainment for those aged from two right up to 92, and that we will also attract many who didn’t make it last year – they will not be disappointed.”

Circus Fantasia’s dancing water fountains, which feature more than 2,000 litres of coloured dancing waters, will also be back at the pier this summer.

Pier director Billy Ball added: “Having a circus last year was very much a trial for everyone to see how it went.

“We are delighted that that they are coming back to provide something very different and to add to the large variety of what the pier has to offer.”

The Jolly Roger was constructed ten years after the pier was built in 1871, changing the landmark into a leisure pier, rather than just a working platform for ships.

There was a circus there for one season in the 1980s.

No animals are used in Clacton Pier Circus.

Tickets are £7 and are available from the pier and online at clactonpier.co.uk.