Visitors to Bury St Edmunds have given a new app, showcasing the market town’s most popular landmarks, their overwhelming seal of approval with over 200 downloads in the first two weeks of it going live.

The ‘Town Tour’ app has been developed to guide visitors around the town, including an audio tour, taking in the sights and attractions from the Abbey Gardens to the Theatre Royal and the Arc shopping centre. The app was built by Jabu Designs of Abbeygate Street and supported by the Business Improvement District (BID) organisation Our Bury St Edmunds and St Edmundsbury Borough Council.

Tourism Officer at St Edmundsbury Sharon Fairweather, who runs the Tourist Information Centre, said: “This makes Bury St Edmunds’ history so accessible. By downloading the app people can make their own way around the places they want to see, when they want to see them. We do have organised tours taking place too from the Tourist Information Centre, but we know that some people will want to take in the sights in their own time.”

The app, which is free to download, includes a map and pictures of each location together with an audio and text description and illustrates them with conversations between characters from Bury’s history.

Chief Executive of Our Bury St Edmunds Mark Cordell said: “Part of the BID’s remit is to encourage people to visit Bury St Edmunds and take in all that it has to offer, which in turn will bring benefits for our member businesses. Helping to produce this app is just one of the ways in which we can promote the town, showcasing it to everyone whether they are coming here for business, shopping or leisure.”

Once downloaded onto a smartphone the app does not need an internet connection to function. Mike Pepper from Jabu Designs of Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury, which also built the ourburystedmunds app, said: “The audio for each area is downloaded with the app so people can walk around and find out about the town’s history without worrying about whether a connection might drop out.

“The take up of the app has been fantastic with nearly 250 downloads since it became available and more than 175 of those when the Christmas Fayre was on, showing that people who are coming into Bury St Edmunds are really interested in the town and its history.”

To download the app search for Bury St Edmunds town tour on a smartphone. Further information is also available from the Tourist Information Centre on Angel Hill.