People need to start 'talking up' Fishguard instead of giving the town negative press councillors have said.

Speaking in response to recent letters that have appeared in the Western Telegraph, county councillor Pat Davies said that things were 'in hand' to improve the appearance of the town square and that people needed to be positive about the town.

"Negative comments which appear through social media and the local press do nothing for the local community," Cllr Davies said when she addressed this month's meeting of Fishguard and Goodwick Town Council.

She acknowledged that the town did look 'quite miserable' at the moment but said that things were 'in hand' to improve the appearance of the town centre.

She said that some of the businesses on the square had taken up Pembrokeshire County Counci's cafe culture grant, benches had also been commissioned from a local blacksmith and the twin towns' Greening Group was 'ready to go' around the Square.

"I'm sick to the back teeth of all this negative press," she said. "People need to start talking Fishguard up not down. We are in the middle of a global pandemic."

She added that she felt that the future of Fishguard was in small independent shops.

"We've got fantastic things in Fishguard," she said. "We've got these small independent shops we all as a community we need to start promoting these businesses.

"We are very fortunate that we have these shops and hopefully we will keep them."

Mayor Jackie Stokes agreed that people should be 'focusing on the positive and not looking at the negatives'.

Councillors discussed whether they would formally reply to the letters in the Western Telegraph, by submitting one from the town council, but decided instead that they would disseminate information through the council's social media channels and website.

Councillor Gareth Davies said one of the key issues that people were not aware of was that the town council was working with several agencies on the issues around the square.

Cllr Stokes added:

"People don't realise that it takes a while for things to happen. We have to go through our processes and wait for certain agencies to approve things."