A HISTORIC attraction in Romsey has been awarded a grant of more than £43,000, ahead of a tourism review of the whole borough.

Test Valley Borough Council’s cabinet has extended funding for King John’s House for 2023/24, granting £43,634.

The funding will allow the King John’s House and Tudor Cottage Trust to develop the house and gardens, creating a more engaging experience “which broadens its current narrow demographic of visitor”, along with becoming a central attraction in the borough’s tourism offering in collaboration with the Visitor Information Centre in Romsey.

In 2022 the attraction applied for three years of funding, but councillors decided to only provide a grant for one year, tied into a wider tourism review.

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However, on Wednesday, February 22, the authority’s cabinet decided to extend the funding period, with provision for future grants covering next year and year after.

Cllr David Drew, cabinet member for community, leisure and tourism, said: “Tourism is absolutely crucial in Test Valley, it counts for a significant part of our economy, and it is a jolly attractive place, and we should be encouraging that.”

Cllr Drew said a wider review in Test Valley is being planned to inform how best to meet the tourism sector needs of the borough.

The review has not yet taken place, and Cllr Drew said that extending the grant to King John’s House for one more year allows for services to be maintained whilst the review takes place.

The cabinet member continued: “There is a wider tourism review planned, but it hasn’t yet taken place, although it will do this year. The reason it hasn’t is because it was considered necessary to put the pandemic sufficiently far behind us.”

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Councillors were told that postponing the review ensures that decisions can be informed with a full year of visitor figures and data.

Cllr Nick Adams-King, ward councillor for Blackwater, welcomed the funding for King John’s House.

He said: “Secondary to The Abbey, King John’s House is the most important attraction that Romsey has, and it is vital that we support it.

"I think it makes absolute sense to align the Tourist Information Centre with King John’s House because the two are adjacent to one another.

"Together they offer an opportunity to enhance that tourism offer by looking at it through a more holistic plan rather than two separate entities."