Mixed fortunes for Shropshire tourism and beyond

But, while the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley is looking at laying off staff, the West Midlands Safari Park in Bewdley performed well, with bosses pleased at attendance figures.

The Severn Valley Railway says that this summer has been 'disappointing but not disastrous', while the free, indoors, RAF?museum at Cosford saw 10 per cent more visitors come through its doors.

Wendy Jackson, from the safari park, said the attraction never reveals visitor numbers, but bosses were 'very pleased' with attendances over the summer.

"We had three very good peaks this year – we had an incredible bank holiday weekend, and we also did very well during our late-night opening in August," said Mrs Jackson.

There was a drop in visitors to the Severn Valley Railway, which meanders through the countryside, passing the safari park on its way to Bridgnorth.

David Mee said it has been disappointing rather than disastrous. "We had just over 117,000 visitors up to the end of August, whereas we had budgeted for 125,000," he said.

"Because of the Christmas service, with the Santa Specials, December can be our strongest month, and at the moment our Christmas services are doing extremely well."

Business has been reasonably brisk over September, helped by the better weather, but Mr Mee said passengers are spending less than they used to.

"Getting the right number of passengers is important, but people are cutting back on their secondary spending," said Mr Mee.

"Where a family might have come in our restaurant, they now bring a packed lunch, or they might look around our gift shop rather than spend money.

"We are always concerned when we are not within the budget, but it is not disastrous." Mr Mee is not expecting any job losses.

Perhaps, given the tough economic climate and wet summer, it is little wonder that one of the big winners in the battle for visitors has been the RAF Museum at Cosford, near Albrighton, an indoor attraction offering free admission – and also the setting for the Queen's Jubilee visit to Shropshire in July.

It is projected that the number of people passing through its doors will be up by around 29,000, an increase of 10 per cent.

It was not such good news at the open-air Black Country Living Museum. "About the only way we could have prevented this was to build a roof over the place," said the museum's Andrew Lovett. There was a 17 per cent drop over the school holidays, and chief executive Mr Lovett now faces the grim task of shedding 70 jobs.

The Shugborough estate near Stafford also saw a drop in visitor numbers.

"We had a dreadful start to the season," Corinne Caddy said. "Figures started picking up, and we hope to be back on track by the end of October."