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Salisbury to get a 'rebrand' to boost dwindling visitor numbers following Novichok attack

<em>Salisbury is getting a rebrand following the Novichok attack earlier this year (Picture: Getty)</em>
Salisbury is getting a rebrand following the Novichok attack earlier this year (Picture: Getty)

Salisbury is reportedly getting a £500,000 ‘rebrand’ to boost dwindling visitor numbers following the Novichok attack earlier this year.

The advertising push is hoped to attract tourists to the cathedral city, following a 12% drop in visitors for the time of year.

According to reports, £500,000 out of a £3.7million pot of money from the Government has been set aside for online and national advertising campaigns set for February and March.

Salisbury hit global headlines earlier this year after Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned with deadly nerve agent Novichok. Shortly after, Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley were poisoned in the nearby town of Amesbury.

<em>Headlines – Salisbury hit global headlines after the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal with deadly nerve agent Novichok (Picture: PA)</em>
Headlines – Salisbury hit global headlines after the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal with deadly nerve agent Novichok (Picture: PA)

Councillor Pauline Church, who works on the South Wiltshire Recovery Team set up in the wake of the poisoning, told Sky News: “For Salisbury and Amesbury we’ve had a really tricky year since March and now it’s all about looking forward.

“The brand proposition is one of those things we’re doing – I think it’s all about Salisbury competing with other cities, like our peers such as Winchester and Bath.”

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Jason Regent, who runs Regent Tailoring, told Sky News that it had been a challenging year and he feared for the future of his business.

“As events unfolded, more and more of our figures were dropping and for a small business with no one behind you it can have easily crippled us…,” he said.

“I had sleepless nights, I felt anxious, I felt it was going to be over at one point.”