Retail, leisure and hospitality businesses in and around the Wantage and Grove area are being given the opportunity to attract extra custom through a town centre advertisement service. The free Wantage town centre Wi-Fi service, which launched in April, offers space on its landing page for local businesses to advertise to members of the public who log on to use the popular service. The service, which covers the Market Place, allows people visiting, living or working in the town centre to access the internet easily and for free using their smartphones, lap-tops, tablets or PDAs to find out information about the town. Since launch, there have been over 6,400 individual visits with 57 per cent of these, or 3,800 users, new visitors, meaning that the service offers a way for businesses to reach a great number of potential new customers at a very competitive rate. The free Wi-Fi service was introduced to encourage visitors to extend their stay in the town centre by providing them with an easy to use information source, encouraging them to stop for longer in the town for refreshments or to do some shopping. The service was paid for Vale of White Horse District Council and is partly supported through income generated from the advertisements. Businesses interested in taking advantage of the opportunity to advertise to a wider audience in Wantage should contact Karen Ogden on 0844 99 11 200 or email Karen.ogden@cts-group.co.uk. Cllr Elaine Ware, Cabinet Member for Economy, Leisure and Property at Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “Many businesses are looking for new and innovative ways to reach more people and bring in extra custom. The free Wi-Fi service in Wantage is great for people visiting the town, but it also offers local businesses an opportunity to get their messages out to a large number of people in the same area.”