Why we should be proud of Dudley – the only downside to a mini-break here is finding the time to fit it all in

There was once a sketch in Spitting Image, where the local luminaries were trying to make their case for holding the Olympic Games in the West Midlands.

After a lot of head-scratching, as the great and the good struggled to find anything positive to say about the area, up piped a puppet of Doug Ellis: "Don't forget the glass museum in Dudley!"

Any suggestion of the Black Country as destination for tourism is usually met with, at best, a self-deprecating smirk. But the latest figures may well show that the real joke is on the naysayers.

A total of 9.3 million visitors came to Dudley in the 12 months leading up to April 2023, an 11.5 per cent increase on the previous year.

The news will no doubt be a major factor in the Village Hotel's plans for a major extension, which will see the creation of 39 new bedrooms.

It is not alone. Recent years have seen the construction of the Premier Inn a few hundred yards from the Village, the refurbishment of the fabulous Art Deco Station Hotel, and the new Travelodge behind Dudley Zoo.