Brighton and Hove is the most popular place in the UK for gay lovers to tie the knot, new figures have revealed.

More than 200 couples flock to the city each year to have their civil partnership ceremonies.

In 2010 129 male and 97 female same sex couples said their vows in the city’s register offices – the highest of any local authority.

Although the number of civil partnerships was high in the two years immediately after they were first made legal in 2005, numbers then dropped away.

But new statistics reveal they are now on the rise again for the first time in four years.

Brighton and Hove has proved the most popular place in the country to have the ceremonies, which usually take place in town halls.

Keith Wilmott-Goodall, 70, from Madeira Drive, was one of the first to have a civil partnership, with his partner Keith Lewis, 62.

He said: “Brighton is such an obvious place for people to come because it’s such a gay area. It has a lot more things for people to do after the ceremony because of all the pubs and clubs – not that I do much of that anymore.

“We remember our ceremony so clearly and I have even gone back to Gresham Blake to have the suit I wore that day adapted because it was too small for me.”

Partnerships are expected to increase in number again under proposals that will allow churches and other religious g roups to host civil partnership registration ceremonies.