A south Lakeland town is racing to ride the wave of publicity it expects to be unleashed when a television programme about it is screened.

Sedbergh is the subject of a BBC documentary to be broadcast in January called Twin Towns, which sees it matched with the town of Zrece (pronounced zray-chay) in Slovenia.

Carole Nelson, who is the leader of the town's Book Town project, said: "Sedbergh is going to be very much at the forefront of everybody's mind when they look at the North West."

However, she warned that although there was a lot of potential with the town twinning, unless the community pulled together it would be a damp squib.

Key to capturing the interest in Sedbergh and using it to make a lasting difference for the area was the expansion of the role of the Tourist Information Centre, said Mrs Nelson.

At a public meeting in the People's Hall in the town, she told more than 30 business owners that they had three years of funding for a new Tourist Information Centre but the town could lose it after that if they did not begin to generate more funding.

She said there were many ways such a centre could be self-funding, including selling local products, taking ten per cent commission on selling accommodation bookings and selling tickets to local events.

However, concerns were raised about the cost to small businesses of both commission and inclusion in any guides that might be produced by the centre.

The new Tourist Information Centre, which could open in February, will be split between official tourist' duties and the book town project, which is seeking to boost the town's literary profile.

Other ideas as how best to capitalise on the national attention are emerging, as Susan Garnett, of the town twinning committee, told the meeting.

She said suggestions included producing and selling Sedbergh-Zrece multi-tools, tea towels and even a board game using caricatures of the people who feature in the programme, including the chairman of the association local butcher Garth Steadman.

Mrs Garnett said the committee would welcome all marketing suggestions but added: "We don't want anything tacky or rubbishy."