TOURISM and trade in Chepstow received a welcome boost last week after confirmation was given for a new coach stop in town.

Following campaigning by Chepstow Chamber of Commerce and Tourism, an agreement with Monmouthshire County Council was reached at the end of last week, allowing private tourism companies to park coaches at the top bay of Chepstow Bus Station.

The aim of the incentive is to drop visitors at the top of town to encourage them to walk down the High Street and be collected at the bottom of town, rather than the current arrangement where tourists are dropped off only around the castle area, missing the majority of the shops further up the hill.

This win is the latest in a passionate campaign from the chamber to ‘clean up’ Chepstow and revive the town’s High Street in the face of pressures on small towns and the forthcoming dropping of the Severn tolls.

Chamber secretary Sue Kingdom said: “Following further discussions with MCC, we are hoping that the bus station will be getting some very much needed cleaning, painting, removal of old timetable signs, etc by mid-September.

“We’ve had long conversations about the litter, food waste, faded road markings, old timetable signs and there are now several departments working on this.”