Heritage city needs centre for tourists

Why has Bath not got a visitor information centre anymore?

The Visitor Centre at Bridgwater House on Terrace Walk closed for good in March 2020 at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, having only been opened in 2018. I always felt that was very sudden.

I appreciate that the centre may have had to close during the height of the pandemic. But now that tourism is back, surely it should be reopened.

Visitors need to know what sights to see, what coach trips are available, and what hotels they can book there and then.

I know that Visit Bath still exists to market Bath, but online and nationally and internationally.

But visitors to Bath need a focal point, a visitor information centre in central Bath.

Other local towns like Frome, Chipping Sodbury and Bradfordon-avon still have visitor information centres. So why not Bath?

I appreciate that a visitor information centre is an expensive entity to run, but surely even as a loss maker it’s worth investing in one, to attract and serve all the tourists who come to Bath and support all the shops and attractions who rely on the tourist trade.

After all, Bath is a tourist and heritage city.

Complacency in not reopening the visitor information centre could prove problematic in the long run.

The money should be found by the tourism authorities and the city coucil.

Stephen Chesworth

Odd Down