Visitor Information Center Options

[Simon Kirby]

Newbury Visitor Information Center is closing permanently from tomorrow. Will anyone miss it?

[On the edge]

No.

There might have be some point if it returns to the Wharf; if that's going to be the bus and coach station. However, I'd be expecting the Coach Service to be running it; just like the railways, where you can pick up leaflets about local attractions at stations.

I must admit, the old set up amused me. There used to be three separate WBC 'information' counters almost next door to each other, the Museum, the Information Office and the Library!

[Andy Capp]

No.

There might have be some point if it returns to the Wharf; if that's going to be the bus and coach station. However, I'd be expecting the Coach Service to be running it; just like the railways, where you can pick up leaflets about local attractions at stations.

I must admit, the old set up amused me. There used to be three separate WBC 'information' counters almost next door to each other, the Museum, the Information Office and the Library!

...and now the Internet.

[Simon Kirby]

...and now the Internet.

Indeed. Here's a link to S****horpe's Tourist Information Centre. OK, so the sharp-eyed amongst you may have noticed that S****horpe isn't actually Newbury, but as S****horpe sits next to Newbury on the Clone Town list I figure it'll do just as well. S****horpe even has a library.

[Edit] Excuse the profanity filter, it's having a bit of trouble with a certain Lincolnshire town's name and I don't appear to be able to reference the town's visitor information centre. I guess it's probably also pointless trying to mention the innovative ideas that the good burghers of the Dorset town of ****terton, or the equally inspired civic endeavours of the townspeople of ****ing, Austria. Ah well.

[Andy Capp]

Indeed. Here's a link to S****horpe's Tourist Information Centre. OK, so the sharp-eyed amongst you may have noticed that S****horpe isn't actually Newbury, but as S****horpe sits next to Newbury on the Clone Town list I figure it'll do just as well. S****horpe even has a library.

[Edit] Excuse the profanity filter, it's having a bit of trouble with a certain Lincolnshire town's name and I don't appear to be able to reference the town's visitor information centre. I guess it's probably also pointless trying to mention the innovative ideas that the good burghers of the Dorset town of ****terton, or the equally inspired civic endeavours of the townspeople of ****ing, Austria. Ah well.

Looking through the irony, here you go: Good old Scuny ... it looks like a toilet hole.

[blackdog]

Yes, but probably not as much as I'd miss tourist information centres in other towns. Always look out for the i sign when I'm in a town for the first time.

From what I hear the folk who will miss them most are the ones they acted as a box office for - notably the canal boat trips who got over half their customers from the VIC. And the local B&B owners who got trade from them. And the local authors, artists, and artisans who flogged stuff through their shop.

All replaceable in other ways I guess, but it seems a shame to see it go.

[On the edge]

Yes, but probably not as much as I'd miss tourist information centres in other towns. Always look out for the i sign when I'm in a town for the first time.

From what I hear the folk who will miss them most are the ones they acted as a box office for - notably the canal boat trips who got over half their customers from the VIC. And the local B&B owners who got trade from them. And the local authors, artists, and artisans who flogged stuff through their shop.

All replaceable in other ways I guess, but it seems a shame to see it go.

That's quite valid Blackdog, but the visitors will still come flocking to see the flag pole. That's what keeps them coming!

[Simon Kirby]

Yes, but probably not as much as I'd miss tourist information centres in other towns. Always look out for the i sign when I'm in a town for the first time.

From what I hear the folk who will miss them most are the ones they acted as a box office for - notably the canal boat trips who got over half their customers from the VIC. And the local B&B owners who got trade from them. And the local authors, artists, and artisans who flogged stuff through their shop.

All replaceable in other ways I guess, but it seems a shame to see it go.

Do you pop in to tourist information centres for anything more than leaflets? We do that in towns we visit, but it's not beyond the whit of man to put a rack of leaflets in any old public building like a library (if the town has one of those). If you're popping in to buy stuff then I wonder that that's not a function that some other commercial premises might offer? For example the corn exchange could surely sell tickets and such for other venues - and as it receives public funding I would like to see it do this without commission for charitable organisations.

I just haven't seen any kind of argument that demonstrates how a tourist information centre is a public good to be paid for from taxation, and even without the cuts I'd still be arguing for the tourist information centre to be dropped.

[Edit] Here's the list of functions that the TIC say they provide, with my comments in italics:

• Accommodation Booking - Local & National - You can do this on the internet.
• Attractions & Things to do Information - A rack of leaflets in the library would do the same job
• Barnes Ticket Agents - You can book on line and by phone.
• Events Information - Again, just a rack of leaflets then.
• Faxing - does anyone actually fax any more?
• Local Crafts & Produce - Is it right to subsidise a shop to sell crafts and produce when it competes with other commercial retail outlets that are trying to do the same thing
• Local walks books - Can't bookshops sell these?
• Maps & Guides - Again, something that bookshops and outdoor shops already sell
• National Express Ticket Agents - Like Barnes, you can book coaches on-line and by phone.
• Newbury Souvenirs - Again, is it right to subsidise the TIC to sell souvenirs of Newbury when other commercial retail outfits could sell this tat?
• Photocopying - You can get photocopying done in any of the print shops and several of the newsagents in Newbury
• Stamps, 1st & 2nd Class and European stamps - News agents and post offices sell stamps.
• Tickets for local events and theatre - Can't the Corn Exchange do this?
• Timetables – Local & National - There's the internet if the bus garage and train station can't oblige

Personally I can't understand how it was ever acceptable for public money to be spent supporting this list of functions.

[blackdog]

A lot of 'you can do this on the internet or by phone' - whereas most of the people I see in there are of the generation than are less likely to have the internet, certainly less likely to have internet in their pocket. It's a dying sector of the community, but also the sector that has the most leisure time to visit new places.

The Corn Exchange can sell tickets - but aren't so equipped to spend time answering queries about what to do and drop in the 'how about a nice boat trip'. And they aren't so easy to deal with. They also have up front costs that might dissuade a small event from using them.

There are solutions, but it does feel a bit like throwing in the towel and admitting that no one wants to visit Newbury anyway.

[Simon Kirby]

A lot of 'you can do this on the internet or by phone' - whereas most of the people I see in there are of the generation than are less likely to have the internet, certainly less likely to have internet in their pocket. It's a dying sector of the community, but also the sector that has the most leisure time to visit new places.

There's nothing the TIC does that any of the local tea shops, charity shops, newsagents, and what-nots wouldn't also do, and I resent being taxed to support ceremonial shops.

[Biker1]

There's nothing the TIC center does that any of the local tea shops, charity shops, newsagents, and what-nots wouldn't also do, and I resent being taxed to support ceremonial shops.

It's centre Simon, centre!

[x2lls]

It's centre Simon, centre!

And it's not Tourist Information Centre Centre!!!

[On the edge]

Simon's right, he is pandering to the hordes of American tourists we can expect. Just ax quick whistle stop to see the flag poles, then to the Control Tower, for coffee. Americans don't want toilets either, they use bathrooms, hope the tower has enough of those.

[Biker1]

And it's not Tourist Information Centre Centre!!!

It's centre Simon, centre!

Did you note the comma?

[Biker1]

Simon's right, he is pandering to the hordes of American tourists we can expect. Just ax quick whistle stop to see the flag poles, then to the Control Tower, for coffee. Americans don't want toilets either, they use bathrooms, hope the tower has enough of those.

Maybe you're right. It may be an attraction to American tourists who wish to see an information center about their great wartime (Second World and Cold) history in Britain!.

[Simon Kirby]

It's centre Simon, centre!

You're right of course, my mistake.

[Cognosco]

Simon's right, he is pandering to the hordes of American tourists we can expect. Just ax quick whistle stop to see the flag poles, then to the Control Tower, for coffee. Americans don't want toilets either, they use bathrooms, hope the tower has enough of those.

All praise to the benevolence of the Greenham Parish ratepayers of course, providing that bathrooms etc have been costed in to the project, unlike a leaking roof was?

[Biker1]

You're right of course, my mistake.

Only joshing Simon, it doesn't really matter.
It's just me, because for some reason these Americanisms irritate me.

[Sherlock]

Only joshing Simon, it doesn't really matter.
It's just me, because for some reason these Americanisms irritate me.

You must love going to Center Parcs.

[je suis Charlie]

Hmm! Toys r Us. Luvly!