THE Royal Forest of Dean had four tourist information offices – Coleford, Newent, Cinderford and Lydney – all of which have closed or are being closed.

This is a retrograde step for a major tourist attraction. Whilst under Midlands, Gloucester were only interested in Glou­cester and Cotswolds in spite of the Forest being a large part of the county.

On transfer to SW Tourism it seems they are only interested in Somerset as display of Forest literature is so rare.

So many businesses will suffer from lack of visitors to the area. Apart from fees to major attractions, landladies will have reduced income and no guests means no extra foodstuffs from stores etc – a knock-on effect all along the line.

The economic climate is the time to advertise the Royal Forest of Dean to encourage visitors to visit and, hopefully, to return. – Two Forest dwellers (name and address supplied).