Traders at Easingwold are backing new attempts to draw in more visitors to the North Yorkshire market town.

Easingwold and its attractions are now on the Internet, thanks to Hambleton District Council which is taking over the running of the town's Tourist Information Centre.

And the Chamber of Trade is paying more than £1,000 for two new signs to encourage tourists to stop and see what Easingwold has to offer.

The signs, which highlight its Georgian buildings and Friday market, will replace two 10-year-old signs in Thirsk Road and York Road at the north and south of the town.

David Wright, secretary of the Chamber of Trade, said the bypass may have had a slight impact on the number of visitors stopping off.He said: "We are trying to improve the awareness to the public of what goes on in Easingwold.

"It is all tied in with what Hambleton is doing to improve tourism."

He said the Tourist Information Centre had already given £200 towards the signs and the chamber was now appealing to other organisations and businesses to contribute.

Antiques dealers in the town recently put up a sign on the A19 advertising the fact that the town has many antiques shops to bring in more visitors.

Head of tourism at Hambleton, Paul Whitaker, said 5,750 people had visited the tourist information centre in 1997, an increase on the 1996 figure, and the centre had brought accommodation bookings worth £2,300 to the area.

He said the council was in the process of assuming responsibility for centres across the district and had just gone on to the Internet with a lot of the web site information focusing on tourism.

www.hambleton.gov.uk

"Tourist information centres provide an excellent service, but this will ensure they move forward into the next century to meet customer demands.

"We're also looking at doing some minor alterations to the building."

Meanwhile, design work is well under way on the long-awaited £300,000 Long Street improvements, which were scaled down earlier this year.

Work is scheduled to start early in the New Year.

Alterations will include improvements to pavements, narrowing stretches of the streets, planting trees and putting up signs.

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