SNAPSHOT OF A COVID GHOST TOWN
How thriving Melrose has been decimated ... in a shutdown repeated across country
LOCKDOWN has left the normally bustling town of Melrose a haunted shadow of its former self. All but six of the shops in the Roxburghshire town have had to close.
They would usually be packed with shoppers and tourists, but the historic High Street and Market Square are eerily quiet.
Gift shops, boutiques, visitor centres, pubs and hotels are paused, while the shutters are down on two barbers’ shops, a craft gallery, a tearoom and a bookshop.
Even Melrose Abbey, famous for being the site where the heart of Robert the Bruce is buried, is shut to visitors.
Among the town’s shopkeepers and business owners, there is a sense urgent action is needed to help the town survive. The Kings Arms, a traditional inn, has been reduced to takeaway food deliveries.
Landlord Rob Reeley, 54, said: ‘We need to be told that we can open, so we can open up our booking systems. Normally at this time of year, we would be packed.
‘We need some financial support going forward. If we could subsidise staff that would be great. Thereafter, VAT reduction.’
Across the street, Mimosa Accessories and Gifts was closed. Outside, owners John and Elizabeth Wilson stopped to chat.
Mr Wilson said: ‘We need the hotels open. If the hotels were open it would make a huge difference to the town, because people would come for lunch and tour around.’
Another business which is temporarily closed is Aly Barbers, run by Alastair Grieve, 52, for the past eight years.
He said: ‘As far as I know we are meant to be opening on July 15. But it’s the PPE they are asking for is mental. A full gown, double gloves, a face mask, and goggles.’
Melrose, population 2,300, has mainly independent small businesses, some having been in the same family for generations.
Jennifer Shearlaw, 37, is a senior sales assistant in Alexander Dalgetty and Sons bakers. She said: ‘I feel as if the community has pulled together a bit more. Personally I have been shopping locally for the last ten weeks, and I don’t think my food shopping has cost very much more.’
Amy Miller, 51, has run Miller of Melrose butchers, for 28 years. She said: ‘This is like January. Normally you look out and it is just all coaches and tourists. You realise how much towns like this rely on tourism.’
At the top of the town, beside the Market Cross, the team at William F. Anderson and Sons Fishmongers and Poulterers reported a steady trade even during lockdown.
Greig Anderson, 45, works with his father Ian. He said: ‘They are going to have to reduce the two-metre rule.
‘And if people are going to take holidays in the UK, it would be good to get the caravan site up and running again.’