BLUR lead singer Damon Albarn says “the most exciting thing” about the band’s reunion is the prospect of a return to Colchester.

The Britpop legends are rumoured to be planning secret gigs in Essex ahead of two big London concerts next summer.

Albarn told broadcaster John Wilson that he and guitarist Graham Coxon smoothed over their rift while eating an Eccles cake – also known as a fly pie – while sitting in a doorway in Camden, London.

Albarn said that despite years of "wanderlust", he was excited about returning to his childhood roots in Essex.

He said: “Do you know what, the most exciting thing about all this for me is that I haven't been back to Colchester, or Essex, since 1994.”

Albarn and Coxon had been friends since they were 11-year-old classmates at the Stanway School but fell out six years ago.

According to Albarn, 40, they finally put aside their differences over an Eccles cake following a chance meeting last year.

In an interview for BBC Radio Four arts programme Front Row, being broadcast tonight at 7.15, the star said Coxon "turned up" when he was taking part in a gig in Camden in October.

"We just went for a walk and bought a bun – I think it was an Eccles cake – and we sat in a doorway," he said.

"We just looked at each other, said 'you know what, it's all over isn't it?' That strange feeling that had come between us had gone."