Jackie Black, of the Tower Street Pantry, muses over the sign pointing to the defunct Museum of Automata

Baffled Japanese tourists are being lured to York to visit a museum of mechanical models - only to find it has been closed for two years and its contents are in... Japan.

Out-of-date Internet tourism sites and council signs are still telling visitors to the city that the defunct Museum Of Automata in Tower Street is open for business.

And despite the contents being sold to Japan lock, stock and barrel in February 1997 the Japanese are among the biggest group of tourists turning up in the city for the express purpose of seeing them.

"I get four or five inquiries about it a day and many of them are from Japanese tourists," said Jackie Black, of the Tower Street Pantry.

"When you tell them it is in Japan they just can't believe it. They've come all the way from their country to see it and it has been moved over there.

The Yorkshire Tourist Board's Internet site is among at least four discovered by the Evening Press which name the museum. To make matters worse, once they get to the city, excited tourists are still being directed to Tower Street by a green finger sign. Val Carter, city centre manager for City of York Council, said: "We are in the process of doing a complete review of all signs because we have a number of new attractions as well."

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