£100k price tag for Larne’s former tourist information centre

The vacant building at Circular Road is owned by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council.

A nearby council-owned carpark, which has now been sold, reportedly for a new outlet of fast food chain McDonald’s, had been on the market for £350,000.

The former tourist information centre, which was said to have been “under-used and too costly”, closed in 2018.

At the time of closure, the council said that tourism services were being “transformed to help grow the economy and boost tourism to the area”.

A new visitor information point was located by the council at the Book Nook shop in Larne town centre.

Almost 20,000 visitors dropped in to the new tourist facility from April last year until the end of December when a total of 19,720 visitors used the new town centre service.

Speaking earlier this year, Stephen Liddle of the Book Nook said that the venture has been a “great success”.

He added: “We have such a variation of people coming in to ask for advice. Sometimes it could be families who want to know where is the best place to entertain their children and the next day you could have visitors from Germany.

Cllr Gregg McKeen commented: “The relocation of the visitor information point to the Book Nook has been an excellent addition.

“Over the last year, Stephen and Joanne have been playing an important role in encouraging visitors to stay longer and spend more in the area.

“The decision to bring the centre into the middle of the town has made it much more accessible and is drawing more visitors into Larne which is exactly what we want.”

The decision to close the Circular Road tourist information centre was criticised by former Larne mayor Bobby McKee when initially the service was to be switched to The Gobbins in Islandmagee, which he believed, was “removing its connection with the Antrim Coast Road”.

An additional information point  opened at the £7.5m tourist attraction in Islandmagee in October.

Michelle Weir, Local Democracy Reporter

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