Tourist information point '˜needed in town'

Battle Town Council is aiming to bring a Tourist Information Point back to the town, more than a year after the previous one was phased out.
By The Newsroom
Published 9th Nov 2016, 13:18 BST
Updated 16th Nov 2016, 15:55 BST

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Hastings Week: Battle Abbey 1066 re-enactment. Photo by Frank Copper SUS-161017-080038001Hastings Week: Battle Abbey 1066 re-enactment. Photo by Frank Copper SUS-161017-080038001
Hastings Week: Battle Abbey 1066 re-enactment. Photo by Frank Copper SUS-161017-080038001

And the council is appealing to local businesses to come forward to help it achieve this ambition.

Battle mayor David Furness said: “Battle is a tourist and cultural destination for visitors and we think that it is essential that the town can offer help and advice for visitors and promote Battle as well as the 1066 region.

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“We must build on all the very positive publicity that we have received from the 950th anniversary celebrations.”

Since the previous Tourist Information Point closed, visitors to Battle have had no visible place to seek help with accommodation and transport.

The council is seeking to form a partnership with a business or agency in Battle to provide this service for visitors.

Ideally the provider would have a high footfall and be clearly visible. The council says it should also have the ability to provide a dedicated area to deal with tourism business and should have dedicated IT, mail, phone line and social media, which would need to be updated regularly.

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The successful business would receive an undisclosed annual grant to assist in the running of the service.

Battle Town Council is urging any group, business or agency which feels it can offer this service to contact the town clerk at The Almonry, in the High Street.

Cllr Furness added: “We hope that this project will be available to visitors in time for next year’s tourist season and that it will encourage even more people to visit our beautiful and historic town.”

Battle used to have a manned Tourist Information Centre, based at Battle Abbey.

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However in 2011, Rother District Council made the decision to downgrade the centre to a Tourist Information Point.

The district was left with just one manned Tourist Information Centre, in Lion Street in Rye, with smaller satellite offices in Yesterday’s World in Battle and the No 48 cafe in Devonshire Road, Bexhill, with phone lines linked to the main centre.

But just a few years later, the face-to-face service disappeared completely after Rother District Council cut its tourist information budget from £65,000 to just £30,000.

The Rye Tourist Information Centre closed in spring 2015.

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