THE new Bromyard Centre was filled with members of the public eager to use the facilities when it opened on Monday (January 5).

Offering a wide range of services under one roof and long opening hours, the Cruxwell Street building includes a library, tourist information centre, Herefordshire Council one-stop shop and leisure centre.

The £800,000 refurbishment project was funded by Herefordshire Council and the centre is being run by leisure trust Halo.

Centre manager Gareth Miles said: "We want to give people a different view of a library."

Bromyard Library moved from its Church Street site to the centre and has £35,000 of new stock, including books, DVDs, videos and computer games.

The library also has ten new computers, with broadband internet access, which are free for the public to use.

Learn Direct online courses in a number a subjects and more traditional taught courses will be on offer in the next few weeks.

Lesley Lloyd is local co-ordinator at the centre and is in charge of the customer service team.

"It's very exciting and it's great that so many people are coming in to have a look round," she said.

Alan Simpson is tourist information supervisor at the centre and will run the service with a team of volunteers.

He said although he already had an excellent team of volunteers, he was looking for more help, particularly from men and Bromyard's younger residents.

Anyone interested in helping can contact Mr Simpson on 01432 260280.

The centre will officially open in April when a celebratory parade will be held in the town. Work on the caf area is under way and it should be complete by mid-February.