THE town council has distanced itself from an “unofficial” publication entitled ‘Alton Town and District Guide 2017 to 2018’.

Distributed to residents in and around the town, the guide contains a ‘food and drink’ section which encourages people to visit restaurants, pubs, bars and cafes almost 200 miles away in Alton, Staffordshire!

The publication has been produced independently by a company called Local Authority Publishing Co Ltd, based in Hailsham, East Sussex, and which was for some years responsible for producing a similar guide for the town council. This year, however, the council changed the style of its own guide to leaflet form.

Having been contacted by a large number of people confused over the “inaccurate content” of the food and drink section of the unofficial publication, the town council released a statement. It read: “Alton Town Council wishes to make it clear that it has not authorised the Alton Town and District Guide 2017-18, nor is the council responsible for any of its content or had any involvement in the publication of this guide.”

Local Authority Publishing Co Ltd apologised for the error.