Funeral director James Beesley hopes the public will see his business in a better light after throwing open the doors of his funeral parlour.

Mr Beesley, 27, set up James Beesley Funeral Services in Gloucester Road, Malmesbury, a month ago and wants people to know he is not running a dark and spooky establishment.

"We're not surrounded by crucifixes and burning candles," he said.

"I want people to come and have a look and hope to take away the mystery surrounding funeral directors."

It is normal practice for a special dedication service to take place when a new funeral director's is established but Mr Beesley wanted to go one further and let the general public get involved.

The service, attended by clergy, will take place at 1pm on December 2 and will be also be attended by Alan Slater, the chief executive of the National Association of Funeral Directors.

The premises will be open to the public from 2 until 4pm and visitors will get a tour of the arrangements room, a selection of coffins and the chapel of rest.

"We will show them the coffin preparation room and explain how the coffins are received and how we fix the fittings and line them," Mr Beesley said.

He said most people did not realise how much work goes into arranging a funeral and hoped the afternoon would give them a better insight.