Action urged over Tenbury Wells' 'appalling' season

The market town of Tenbury Wells on the south Shropshire border has endured an "appalling" summer of tourism - with officials claiming action needs to be taken to entice more people.

The streets of Tenbury Wells have been near-deserted this week at what should be the height of the holiday season, it was claimed today.

Members of Tenbury Tourism Group have claimed the prolonged wet weather during August and uncertainty over parking in the town have contributed to the problem.

Chairman Chris Dell said the town did not have the big attractions of neighbouring towns like Ludlow, Bewdley and Bridgnorth.

And he said despite new shops opening in the town this year, more needed to be done to boost the tourism economy in Tenbury.

Mr Dell said: "On Wednesday traders were standing in their shop windows looking to see if there were any people on the streets. It's been a very challenging holiday period and an appalling August.

"We still have new businesses coming in and a number of shops have opened this year. People are still trying but in terms of overall numbers of people coming in it's been terrible."

He added: "There is uncertainty over parking in the town. At the moment the old cattle market site which is privately owned is available for free parking.

"But if Tesco build a store there and maintain a car park we will still need parking for everyone who currently parks there to go to work."

But Graham Archer, a volunteer at Tenbury Tourist Information Centre, said he did not believe the situation was any worse to previous years and said visits to the shop at the centre were up on last year.