Tourists visiting Kendal will have to find other way to discover information about the town - after the tourist information show on Finkle Street announced it will close.

The tourist information centre for the town, known as Fantastic Kendal, will close, however Sarah Williams, who was part of setting up and running the centre, thinks there should have been another way of keeping it open.

She said: "I ran it for the love of Kendal. I wasn’t in it for the money, I just could not afford to run it anymore.

"We were not getting the support we needed to keep it going.

"The Town and District councils should be supporting a tourist information centre run by people from the town who know the town."

The centre was originally set up with £5,000 from South Lakeland District Council plus £5,000 from Kendal Town Council, with separate funding from Miss Williams herself.

However the volunteer explained it has been hard running the centre, with many people questioning it.

She said: “I wish people would stop thinking I made loads of money out of this, which simply is not true. People just need to step back and think of the damage done by criticising me and my volunteers.

"We never had any intention to compete with anybody, it was purely and simply to promote what Kendal has to offer.

"The only reason it was called a tourist information centre was that the council building had withdrawn its tourist information services. "The Business Improvement District (BID) members also wanted to have a contact place in the town and the BID board were actively looking for a place for storage and meeting space, it was logical that they to pay the rent for,

Fantastic Kendal, instead of renting offices separately.

"But even the BID was accused of lining my pockets. I needed support as it was always going to be a service, not a profit-making operation. But we had to close because as private individuals and volunteers we could not afford to run it any longer; because we weren’t getting the support to keep it going and I am now wide open to criticism. I can only assume they do not understand the full facts behind the decision. People do not want to pay for information - all be it that they value the service."

The site of Fantastic Kendal is now making way for an existing business to expand. Councillor Giles Archibald is enquiring about what can be done. He said: "There might be an opportunity for a ‘bare bones’ tourist information facility within the space which will house the new reception area in the town hall."