AN all-new town centre app is set to put Cardigan well and truly on the map as it looks to reach out to both visitors and locals alike.

The app, backed by Cardigan’s town centre partnership and funded by a £5,000 local authority grant, has been under development for the past six months.

It has now been officially launched, much to the delight of outgoing mayor Cllr Clive Davies who has been a driving force behind the scheme.

He believes it will provide a significant boost to businesses in the high street as the town looks to build further on the success of Cardigan Castle’s victory in the Great Restoration project on Channel 4.

Visitors coming to Cardigan can now log in on their mobiles and get a whistle-stop tour of everything the town has to offer, from local shops, where to go to eat and drink, events, places to visit and even a brief potted history and pictures from a bygone era.

It also fits in with the plan to launch a permanent free wi-fi system in the town centre.

“This is version one and we will be updating it as we go but in the long term we hope this will be a huge resource for the town,” said Cllr Davies.

“There are 110 shops in the town and I have spoken to every one of them and most of them are supporting it. This was something I wanted very much to launch before my term of office ended.”

The site will now continue to develop over the coming months, with more businesses set to join and have access to their own ‘card’ which they can update and link to their own websites. It is fully bilingual.

The app is to be publicised around the town in shop windows and car parks.

“We are just scratching the surface at the moment as we get more and more people on board but we are able to cover the on-going costs. For a town of our size to have something like this is just brilliant,” added Cllr Davies.

Martin Radley, chairman of Cardigan Traders, said: “This is very good news and I hope every business owner will buy into this and take advantage of it as this is the future.

“The key now will be traders feeding information into the site. A potential customer could now walk past your shop, their phone would ‘bing’ and they would instantly be aware of what’s on offer.

“Most people are now smart phone savvy and we have to embrace this as the way forward.”