Visitors to Cheltenham town centre will notice a new addition to the High Street from this week, with the arrival of an information pod.

Cheltenham Borough Council is installing the pod as part of a three-month trial to test a new approach to visitor information in the town. The pod, which will be known as the Information Exchange (or iX for short), is the latest initiative to help support the town's economic recovery and encourage both locals and visitors to discover more of what Cheltenham has to offer.

The iX will feature large outward facing digital screens containing information on what's on in the town that week, with QR codes to discover more. It will also feature large maps of Cheltenham, to encourage people to explore more of the town. When in full use, the public will be able to go inside the pod and browse an extensive range of leaflets and information on the town and surrounding area.

The concept behind the iX is that local organisations, charities and projects will be given the opportunity to operate from the space on a pop-up basis, providing them with a valuable opportunity to engage with the public in a high footfall area of the town, whilst maximising the iX's accessibility to visitors.

David Jackson, manager of Marketing Cheltenham at Cheltenham Borough Council, said: "In a normal year, Cheltenham welcomes well in excess of two million visitors. So as the town's visitor economy, hospitality and cultural sectors all get back into full swing again, we wanted to make sure visitors have every opportunity to explore all that the town has to offer.

"The Information Exchange is a way of helping to inform visitors about events and things to see and do in the town that they may not have been aware of, delivered in a way that is also linked to our visitcheltenham.com website in real-time.

"We're keen to hear from local organisations so that we can ensure the iX is open and utilised as much as possible over the next three months. To have the opportunity of having a High Street location from which to promote your event, exhibition or latest initiative is something we hope local partners will find really attractive, so we'd encourage anyone that may be interested to get in touch."

Before the pandemic, Cheltenham's Tourist Information Centre was based in the Wilson Art Gallery and Museum. The Wilson has been closed for the past two years, as a result of Covid-19 and a subsequent major refurbishment.