An official ceremony to mark the City of Ely Council taking over the organisation of events from the district council’s tourism and town centres team was held at Oliver Cromwell’s House.
Influential figures in the community attended the event on Wednesday night, alongside Peter Cresswell, chairman of East Cambs District Council.
The evening marked the official transfer and the Visit Ely team, based at Oliver Cromwell’s House, is looking forward to continuing their programme of work to make Ely and the surrounding area a key tourist destination in the region.
A variety of 17th century influenced food was served to guests along with Cromwell’s very own cider.
Invitees representing tourism and town centre partners across the district were then offered a guided tour of the former Lord Protector’s home which is one of the main visitor attraction in Ely.
The House is also home to Ely’s very own Escape Room who’s newly launched theme is based around a lock in at The Cromwell’s Arms, a throw back to when the house was indeed a pub in the Victorian era.
The team is now working in earnest to put on one of Ely’s biggest weekends - the Eel Festival Weekend over the May Bank Holiday.
Tracey Harding, Visit Ely’s Manager, said: “We are very much looking forward to a new chapter in our service’s history under the City of Ely Council and have lots of exciting new plans to further expand our tourism, town centres and events offer.”
It was announced last year that the services, including the historic attraction, would be transferred to the City of Ely Council.
Its aim is to “carry out initiatives and projects to re-vitalise our three town centres and make them a pleasant place to live, work and visit,” according to its delivery plan.
It comes as it was revealed last year that tourism in East Cambridgeshire is booming – with visitor numbers rising to nearly four million in the last three years.
Latest figures showed that the number of overnight stays in the region have increased by 10 per cent.
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