Tourist chiefs critical as opening hours cut

English Heritage will only open sites including Clifford’s Tower in York, Whitby Abbey and Scarborough Castle on weekends from November until April, due to a 32 per cent cut in Government funding.

Gillian Cruddas, chief executive of Visit York, said: “We are disappointed because seasonality is something we are working very hard in York to reduce. If visitors come to the city all year round, we are providing jobs for a start, which benefits the economy. We want to continue to work closely with English Heritage to see if it can be resolved in the future.”

An English Heritage spokesman said the closures were being implemented following a review of visitor patterns at the historic sites, with attractions found to be most popular in winter during weekends.

Staff have been offered extra shifts during the summer months or the option to cut their hours, however some have chosen to take voluntary redundancy.

Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire said: “We are clearly disappointed but we do understand that these are challenging times and measures need to be taken to safeguard businesses.”