LEDBURY’s famous Painted Room on Church Street has closed to visitors after a member of staff tested positive for covid. 

The popular visitor attraction closed on Tuesday until further notice. 

However, as it was due to shut at the end of this month anyway, it is unlikely to reopen before the official end of the town’s tourism season. 

Town clerk Angela Price emphasised that the room had not been contaminated by the virus, rather it was a simple matter of difficulties in covering the tour guide’s absence. “The staff at Ledbury Town Council have all been tested, however if you have any concerns do please take a Lateraxl Flow Test,” she said.

She added that the council had already been looking for new recruits to join the venue’s team: “We are looking for anyone interested in a paid seasonal position at the Painted Room.” 

Anyone interested should call into the Town Council offices next door to the Painted Room entrance on Church Street.

The historic room contains very fine original wall paintings thought to be based on the types of costly tapestries fashionable in the Elizabethan era. They lay covered over and forgotten for many years until they were uncovered in 1989 during a major restoration of the building.  

The designs in the main pattern are floral and based on Elizabethan Knot Gardens. Around the top part of the walls there is a valance effect which has boxes containing biblical text. These helped with the dating of the paintings, which are thought to be from the 1560s or 1570s.