Tourist Information Centre? Try the Gateway!

From This is Kent:

VISITORS have slammed Tunbridge Wells Borough Council's decision to shut The Pantiles's tourist information centre for four days a week.



The information service is operating from the council's Gateway centre on a temporary basis.


The council said the move was a "pilot" and this week denied the relocation would be permanent.


But tourists told the Courier they believed it could deter them from returning to the town or recommending it to others.

Stephen Herbert, from Devon, who was visiting the town with his wife and mother-in-law, said: "We haven't got a clue where we are so we definitely would have gone in to get our bearings. We're not walking up the hill though, my mother-in-law wouldn't be able to manage it."


Meanwhile, Linda Talmadge, from Kingston in Surrey, had to ask in shops for help.


She said: "We headed straight for The Pantiles because that's what I remember about Tunbridge Wells. We wanted to get a map. We shan't bother now."


The four-day closure has also been criticised by Pantiles traders and bed and breakfast owners, who said tourists should not be made to wait with benefit claimants and people making complaints.


"I think the tourist information centre needs to be where the tourists go," said David Evans, whose wife Ann owns Rosnaree B&B in Upper Grosvenor Road.


"The tourism prevention process is alive and well," he added.


The pilot runs until Easter next year when the Old Fish Market office will open.

I love the comment 'the tourism prevention process is alive and well'.  

This blog has commented before on the stupidity of the decision to move the TIC from the Pantiles to the Gateway.