A NUMBER of organisations in Devizes will take on a tourist inquiry role once Devizes Visitor Centre closes tomorrow.

Wiltshire Council is closing the centre, in the Market Place, and the eight staff have agreed to take voluntary redundancy.

To plug the gap, local groups and companies have joined forces to form the Devizes Area Tourism Partnership and a number of outlets will stock leaflets.

These include the Wiltshire Heritage Museum in Long Street, Wadworth Brewery Visitor Centre, Kennet and Avon Canal Trust Museum, Devizes Books and Travelwise.

The museum and brewery visitor centre will answer general inquiries on the Devizes Visitor Centre telephone number, which will be redirected.

There is nowhere for visitors to the town to book accommodation, instead they will be given a phone number which will be answered by bed and breakfast owners.

Wiltshire Council will give display equipment now in the visitor centre to the participating outlets and there will be a sign on the visitor centre giving details on where to seek tourist information. Permanent signposts in the town may follow.

The Right Time Cafe in the Market Place will house the Connect 2 bus free telephone, allowing people to book journeys, and will also stock bus timetables.

Devizes Visitor Centre had 43,000 visitors last year and more than half the enquiries were about transport.

Kennet Passengers is part of the Devizes Area Tourism Partnership and spokesman Kate Freeman said: “It’s terrific that we have multiple access points for tourism and we need to make sure they can link in to all the information at the Right Time Cafe. I think it’s a suck it and see situation. We are terribly impressed with the work of Devizes Visitor Centre so it will be a hard act to follow.”

David Dawson, director of Wiltshire Heritage Museum, said: “We are working together to give residents and visitors the information they need. We would like to involve more of the community with this, particularly community shops so they have leaflets for different attractions and they can tell visitors about things going on in the local area.”

Coun Fleur de Rhe-Philipe, Wiltshire Council’s cabinet member for economic regeneration, said: “This shows what can be achieved when organisations work together for the good of the town.”

Wiltshire Council is closing other TICs and is instead investing £1.5 million over three years to Salisbury-based VisitWiltshire, which markets the county.