‘Thank you Dom’: How visitors are testing out Barnard Castle
BUSINESSES IN Barnard Castle have noted an upturn in visitors as lockdown eased after it was made famous by Dominic Cummings’ controversial family trip.
TV antiques expert David Harper, who has a shop in the picturesque market town, said local businesses could never have afforded the exposure Barnard Castle received from the affair.
And the mayor said the headlines it created “put us on the map”.
Mr Cummings visited the riverside at Barnard Castle on Easter Saturday after travelling from London to Durham to stay at a property on his parents’ farm when he and his wife fell ill.
The Downing Street adviser said they took a trip to Barnard Castle, where he was spotted by a retired chemistry teacher, as he planned to travel back to London the next day and he wanted to check he could drive safely, particularly as his “eyesight seemed to have been affected by the disease”.
That comment led to many jokes about opticians in the town.
Indeed, brewers BrewDog have sold more than 810,000 cans of their IPA called Barnard Castle Eye Test.
Mr Harper, who has been wrongly identified as Mr Cummings when he has been spotted heading to his antiques and art shop, said: “I don’t know how many emails I’ve received from people saying Barnard Castle looks so lovely.
“I’ve heard of people thinking of relocating and checking out property prices.
“When I reopened my shop earlier this month, if I had a pound for every time someone mentioned it, or cracked a joke about eyesight or calling me Dominic, I would be super-rich.
“If everyone in Barnard Castle got together and wrote a cheque for the cost of the marketing, we still couldn’t pay for it all. “Thank you Dom.” Mayor John Blissett, 73, agreed that more people were inspired to visit, taking in its ruined medieval castle which sits above beautiful walks beside the River Tees.
He said: “The crowds have been coming in and obviously the curiosity is there. I don’t know whether the opticians have had any more trade though.”