TRADERS say leaflets aimed at drawing visitors to their part of Colchester are inaccurate and full of mistakes.

Colchester’s St Botolph’s Area Business Association is worried the quality of publicity material produced by Colchester and Ipswich Museums Service may keep customers away.

It points to a flyer for a Medieval Fun Day, planned at St Botolph’s Priory on Saturday, July 17, which it says contains ten mistakes.

Steve Miller, the association’s spokesman, said: “Are we to take the museums service seriously? How important is the town centre and St Botolph’s Street to it?”

Mistakes on the leaflet’s map include: St Botolph’s car park is marked, even though it is closed while the town’s new magistrates’ court is built.

Other car parks which are open have been left off.

Important shopping streets, including St Botolph’s Street itself, are missing.

Mr Miller, who runs Miller Stationery, in St Botolph’s Street, said: “Making ten mistakes on such a small leaflet beggars belief.

“St Botolph’s is the town’s oldest trading street but has been overlooked.”

Marie Taylor from the museums service, said the map had been kept simple for the sake of clarity.

She explained: “We are thinking about customers and we are not looking to confuse people, so we couldn’t put everything on the map. We are always looking to improve, and the website from which we took the map is being updated next year.

“We welcome suggestions, but this is the first complaint we have had about this.”

St Botolph’s Priory is due to be transformed into a bustling medieval camp for the family fun day, complete with court, kitchen and a jousting tournament.

Visitors can cheer on their chosen knight at the Combat Camp, learn about swordfighting and try medieval food, including pork from a traditional hog roast.

There will also be a variety of art and craft activities, and visitors will have the chance to contribute to a giant paper mural designed to mark the event.

There will also be tours of the priory and talks by historian John Ashdown Hill.

The event runs from 10.30am until 4.30pm and coincides with the Medieval Treasures exhibition at Colchester Castle.