Second place for ss Great Britain

The ss Great Britain was saved from the Falkland Islands in the 1970s

The ss Great Britain has been named as the second most popular tourist attraction at the British Travel Awards.

The attraction won the silver award at the ceremony which is described as the Oscars of the travel industry.

The award, which is decided by a public vote after nominations from the industry, was won by Alton Towers.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel's ss Great Britain beat off competition from previous winner London Eye among others.

Lorraine Barnes-Burton, from the British Travel Awards, said: "You've got all your main theme parks in there such as Chessington, Thorpe Park, Legoland and the London Eye.

"So, they've really done very well, actually," she added.

"People are obviously having a really good customer experience when they go there.

"Perhaps they are a little bit surprised and not expecting it to be as good as it actually is."

Rhiann Tritton, director of museum and educational services, said they were happy to win the runners-up award.

"We were utterly delighted to get silver. It was hugely exciting and means that the people of Bristol really got behind us to vote.

"It felt like a real achievement and made me feel so proud of what we do at the ship and particularly of all the front of house staff who work so hard to give all of our visitors a really good, fantastic experience."

The ship, the world's first ocean liner, was scuttled at Sparrow Cove on the Falkland Islands in 1937.

It was brought back to the UK in the 1970s thanks to naval architect Ewan Corlett, who refused to let the hulk continue to rot in the Falklands.