TOURISM chiefs have been accused of ignoring the county's top attraction... the local pub.

Jonathan Neame, chief executive of Faversham's 300-year old brewer Shepherd Neame, says that pubs were not considered part of the tourist industry, even though nine our of 10 visitors went to one.

According to a recent survey, 86 per cent of American tourists, and 68 per cent of all visitors, prefer our pubs to theirs. Pubs are a big employer, with around 50,000 people working in the county's inns and hostelries, Mr Neame told business people at an Institute of Directors Kent event in Faversham.

"People think of tourist attractions in terms of cathedrals, museums and the like but what they forget is the huge number of very ancient buildings that have been serving the public for many hundreds of years," he said.

Sheps alone owns 220 listed buildings dating from before 1750.

The first pubs served Roman soldiers in AD43, said Mr Neame. Richborough Castle in East Kent was "the first leisure centre pub and restaurant".

And of 16,000 licensed premises in the mid-1500s, 90 per cent were still operational today.

Pubs were an "under-valued asset" but he accepted that they did not market themselves well enough. Shepherd Neame could do more to help tenants, he admitted.

But the Government and local councils should also help by putting up brown directional signs on the M2 promoting Faversham as a brewery town and Whitstable as an oyster centre.