DISTURBING rumours were flying round the town that there would be no Skipton Tourist Information Centre at Easter. It was, callers to the office were told, about to be no more and indeed a notice taken out in our columns by the Town Council said as much.

However, the alarm appears to have been unfounded and we have received assurances that a new outlet will open in Craven Court - a private venture, carrying out many of the functions of the old information centre which, until this week, operated in Sheep Street. So, it seems, the Tourist Information Centre is no more. In its place is a new centre, which will give out tourist information, if you appreciate the subtle difference.

A problem appears to have arisen over the future of the staff at the old outlet, who, we are told, are currently taking legal advice. That may all come out in the wash at a later date.

For the moment, we wish the new occupants of the Tourist Information Centre well in their venture.

It would seem an anomaly if a town so reliant on tourism as Skipton had not information centre but there has been growing disquiet from Skipton Town Council, which ran the TIC until March 31, about the cost of providing the service. While Skipton residents paid for the service, it was of more than a little benefit to hotels and businesses based further afield. In these days of increasingly tight purse strings, few were prepared to pay their share.

The Town Council is right to hand it on to a private company who will attempt to make a profit out of it. That might sound like a dirty word to some but at least the council tax payers of Skiptonians will not be asked to subsidise the service.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.