THE MANAGER of Burnham-on-Sea's tourist information centre has said the centre has helped 47,000 people despite bad weather conditions giving them a rough start to the year. 

The centre on the Esplanade, which is run by community group, Burnham Information and Rescue Support (BIARS) is mainly staffed by volunteers and normally helps 70,000 people per year. 

However, Manager Ian Jefferies has said that while poor weather conditions are to blame for a decrease in numbers, he remains optimistic that Burnham can be considered a "base for exploring Somerset."

He said: " We helped 47,000 people until the end of September this year which is down from the 70,000 we normally help.

"It has been a very mixed bag this year.

"If the sun comes out, we get lots of people, if it rains, no one really wants to do anything. 

" The weather conditions at the beginning of this year were not great which definitely made numbers go down for us. 

" We have been very grateful that we have had a late summer because it has really helped our trade and the amount of referrals we can make to local hotels and pubs. 

Mr Jefferies added that in the future he wants to be able to show that the town can be used as a base for tourists when they come to visit Somerset and can use the information centre to help them explore the county more. 

"There are plenty of places to go in Somerset which are beautiful and great for tourists to explore, like the Somerset levels. 

"To try and help people have an experience outside of Burnham, Burnham is lovely but spending a week here without exploring doesn't seem very sensible. 

"We want to say to people that they can use Burnham as a base, somewhere they can stay whilst they go out and explore Somerset."