THE Tunbridge Wells tourist attraction, A Day At The Wells, closed its doors to the public for the last time on Sunday.

The £1.1 million heritage centre, opened in 1990 and located in the Corn Exchange in The Pantiles, has shut after the borough council decided it could no longer support the venue.

Visitor numbers, once projected at more than 100,000 a year, had fallen to just 15,000 a year and this coupled with rising costs led to the decision.

The council has claimed the closure will save the equivalent of a £4 increase in council tax, some 5.5 per cent of the current bill.

A Day At The Wells told the story of the spa town's Georgian heyday in a series of lifelike tableaux, designed and built by York-based Heritage, creators of York's Jorvik Viking Centre.

The borough council aims to bolster interest in The Pantiles with a series of events and promotions over the coming months.