Visitors to Penrith will get an extra special welcome when they arrive by train over the summer as a brand new welcome sign was unveiled at the town’s railway station this week.
A new “ Welcome to Penrith “ sign was installed at Penrith North Lakes railway station as a result of a joint initiative between Virgin Trains and Eden District Council’s Tourism Team which people help will encourage more people to explore what the town has to offer.
Members of Eden District Council’s Tourism Team and Jim Walker – Chair of Eden Tourism Network – handed over the sign to the Virgin Trains station team at Penrith. The stunning new pictorial sign board is designed to entice visitors to stay longer and enjoy the town and surrounding area.
It will be sited on Platform 2 at the top of the stairs leading to the station’s underpass and will be seen by many of the 500,000 people who use the station every year to travel to and from Penrith and the Eden Valley.
“Welcoming our visitors warmly to Eden is really important,” said Jim Walker – Chair of the Eden Tourism Network. “This bright new sign gives a real flavour of the vitality of Penrith and the local area. The town is becoming an increasingly well used hub for the rising number of visitors using public transport and we all have a responsibility to ensure our guests to the area enjoy their visit and recommend others to follow in their footsteps to ensure our local economy remains strong.”
Passengers will now be greeted with new images of some of Penrith’s iconic landmarks together with getting a taste of the beautiful landscapes such as Ullswater and Eden’s beautiful countryside that are accessible outside the town. In addition, the sign will help direct people to Penrith’s Tourist Information Centre located just a few minutes walk away on Middlegate and make people aware of Eden’s destination website – www.visiteden.co.uk
Michael Byrne, Penrith Station Manager at Virgin Trains on the West Coast, said: “As we celebrate our twentieth year at Virgin Trains, we have seen record numbers of journeys to Cumbria. We’re proud to serve the town of Penrith and are pleased to be working with Eden Tourism to offer visitors a warm welcome and highlight what the town and the gateway to the North Lakes has to offer.”
The joint initiative between Eden Tourism and Virgin Trains is just one example of how Eden District Council’s tourism team works closely with tourism operators across the Eden area to help maximise the potential of the increasing numbers of visitors who come to Eden every year. During 2016, Eden attracted 4.77 million tourism visits with a massive £309.41 million being generated within the local economy through visitor and tourism business expenditure (Source: STEAM).
