So many tourists visiting pretty Cotswolds village locals fume it's 'busier than London'

Bus loads of visitors in a beautiful Cotswolds village have prompted outrage from locals who fear its streets are becoming as 'busy as London'.

Bourton-on-the-Water boasts quaint pubs and independent shops lining beautiful pedestrianised streets, but both locals and visitors say the streets are "overflowing" with coachtrippers.

Tripadvisor's review page for the village is filled with claims Bourton has been "ruined" and become "very touristy", while locals have also claimed they "don't have control anymore".

One woman who lives and works in Bourton but did not wish to be named told the Express: "It's getting worse every year, I feel like we don't have control anymore, it's like the village exists to serve tourists.

"You can't walk down the street without colliding with someone too busy looking at their phone and taking pictures.

"But they do bring in a lot of money which we have to be grateful for I suppose, there's probably not a lot of villages that have the level of interest we do."

Her thoughts were echoed by one visitor on Tripadvisor, who said: "Awful, filled with tourists, the main street next to the river is full of tacky overpriced eateries.

"The only thing worth seeing is the fantastic motor museum."

Another said the town's High Street "made Oxford Street on a Saturday afternoon" look "like a ghost town".

Their review read: "Beautiful place, however Oxford Street on a Saturday afternoon is like a ghost town compared to Bourton on the Water on a sunny day.

"If a car parking space can be found, the central green area is so utterly rammed with people to the extent that it's impossible to take a photo of the picturesque village stream without hoards of people in the shot, huge groups of picnickers on the green, and children and dogs wading in the stream.

"It must be utter misery for the residents living there, especially the long-term residents who have lived through the changes, now reduced to a theme park, sadly its beauty is its own downfall."

But not everyone in Bourton agrees that tourism is bad for the town, with staff at the town's Quirky shop saying they felt it was "good" for the town and business.

Kim, who works in the High Street gift shop told the Express: "It's not a problem at all at the moment, it's good for the community and good for business.

"At the minute we're seeing lots of people coming into the shop and things are going really well, we've got nothing to complain about."

Pulhams and Sons Coaches, based in the village, says more than 238,000 people visited it by coach or large minibus in 2019 and it is thought that number is increasing.

Bourton parish councillor Jon Wareing recently tabled a motion to get the council to accept that tourism is a problem for the village, but it was rejected by six votes to four 

At one residents' meeting, Mark Honeyball who lives in the village, told the meeting he was physically assaulted by one visitor.

He told the meeting: "The problems with parking and tourism in the village have quadrupled over the last five years."

Bourton Parish Council has been contacted for comment.