THOUSANDS of bikers will descend on the city centre tomorrow for the Salisbury Spring Surprise Motorcycle Show.

The event – saved by a last minute injection of funds last month – is one of the biggest free motorcycle shows in the south of England.

Taking place in the Market Place, it starts at noon but motorcyclists arrive earlier to ensure they can park in the square.

This year, organisers have hired Salt Lane car park for the sole use of bikers.

Local rep for the Salisbury Motorcycle Action Group (MAG), Fin Colson said: “We are expecting around 8,000 motorcyclists.

“It’s on the Bank Holiday weekend which means the numbers might be slightly diluted with other events going on across the country but we’ll probably get more families coming along.

“We hired Salt Lane car park so once the market square becomes full, the overflow can go there. It means the motorcyclists will be closer to the event rather than having to go to Central Car Park which is what happened last year.”

Blue Boar Row will be closed to traffic between 8am and 5pm, as will Queen Street, the first part of Endless Street and the first part of Winchester Street, which both lead off from Blue Boar Row.

No cars or delivery vehicles will be allowed through unless they are part of the event.

For the first year, people will have to pay £1 entry per bike.

Fin said: “The show has to pay for itself and if we don’t charge something, there’s no way we could make any improvements. All the profits will be ploughed into next year’s event.”

The event includes charity and club stands, and trophies for categories such as custom classic and worst motorcycle.

The show organisers had initially announced the cancellation of the event blaming a shortage of funding and safety concerns.

But city leaders and businesses fought to save the show with extra cash coming from local motorcycle dealer Gary Hayball of Hayball Motorcycles and Salisbury Business Improvement District (BID).