LACK of support in Teignmouth from local and district councils has been the final nail in the coffin for a business.

On Saturday, another guest house is closing down leaving the owners feeling hard done by the councils.

Alan Ashby has run St Mellons in Orchard Gardens for the past 18 years. In that time he has pitched many business improvement ideas to the local and district council's, only to have them turned down.

One idea that he came up with was putting a board in the tourist information office that displayed all of the available accommodation in Teignmouth. This was rejected, and taken up about 10 years later.

'I first realised they had done it when I walked past the tourist information and saw a board exactly as I had suggested,' said Mr Ashby, 'I couldn't believe it.'

Mr Ashby is also fed up with the number of car parking spaces that have been lost throughout the years and the amount of traffic that has been increasing annually.

'The biggest problem in the town is the parking,' he said. 'In the end, all we will get is the day trippers. This is through no fault of local businesses but from the councils who just won't listen to our ideas.'

Teignbridge Council told him that there were more car parking spaces than ever, but he said that was not the case.

'If fewer people come to stay in Teignmouth, there are fewer people to spend money.

'Flats for the elderly keep getting built, who I'm sorry to say, won't be spending much in the town.

'The casual trade has died the death. We've been all right because a lot of our business has been from people who come back. When I told them that we were closing there were a lot of tears.

'We are not closing down because we can't make a go of it. We are just both getting a bit too old and it's all getting a bit too much for us.'

When the hotel finally shuts its doors this Saturday. Mr Ashby plans to turn it back to living accommodation for him and his family.