GLENLUCE GUNROOM NEWTON STEWART

Iconfess to disliking shopping. I always have done. It probably dates to my early years when, each Saturday morning, I had to walk across the fields from my grandparents’ remote cottage with Gran to catch the Yorkshire traction bus into town. I hated the morning I lost each week dragging around the market to pick up the week’s provisions — I would much rather have been raking about in the hedgerows. That was, until I was old enough to have an air rifle. My pride and joy was a .22 BSA Meteor, which I spent every waking hour using.

From that moment, the weekly trip into town meant a few minutes in the small gunshop where Gran would buy me a tin of 500 Eley Wasp pellets. I still recall the tin’s blue lid with its wasp design. I even counted the pellets when I got home to make sure there were 500 in it — there always was. I loved just to stand and gaze at all the shotguns and rifles, and I was fascinated by the huge array of cartridges in different sizes and colours. I still dislike shopping, apart from when it involves any gunshop, where I am still a bit like a kid in a sweetie shop.

There have been a few favourite gunshops over the years. Life as a serving RAF officer, with the associated regular moves, meant they came and went with postings. Fur Feather and Fin, which was in Crumlin, Co Antrim, and Galloway Guns and Tackle in Newton Stewart are two that have sadly closed. Tony, the owner of Galloway Guns, was an exiled Lancastrian but I didn’t hold that against him. Instead, I would take pity on him by supplying ‘proper’ Yorkshire pork pies whenever I headed north to stalk.

My favourite gunshop since moving to Scotland is Glenluce Gunroom, which lies just off the main A75 Carlisle to Stranraer road. Glenluce Gunroom was formed by Stewart Stirling around 25 years ago. Stewart is a blacksmith by trade

“It is, quite frankly, a treasure trove, and so much more than just a gunshop”

but, having become fed up with “chasing farmers for money”, he decided a change of direction was required and so he started afresh in the gun trade. Around 15 years ago, as the business grew and larger premises were needed, he built the units where the

The shop has two floors, extending in total to around 3,000sq ft. The top floor is primarily allocated to shooting clothing, while the ground floor provides a home for the guns, rifles and accessories. It is, quite frankly, a treasure trove, and so much more than just a gunshop. It’s a Mecca for any sportsman; there aren’t many outfits that can compete with the volume of rifles and shotguns on sale here.

If you were intending to nip in as you pass and pick up a box of ammunition, you can forget it. You will be lucky if you can get in and out in a morning, but that’s part of the appeal. How nice just to stand, take a moment and ‘chew the fat’ with like-minded folk. It’s a great place to get sound advice for those who need it — and to pick up the latest snippets of local intelligence — something you most certainly can’t get as we switch to mail ordering. This is priceless.

It is so important we all continue to support our local dealers. It will be a sad day if we don’t and our gunshops end up going the way of the high-street retailers. I may dislike shopping, but I’d be more upset if our gunshops were lost to us.

Glenluce Gunroom, Unit 1, Barlockhart Works, Glenluce, Newton Stewart, Dumfries & G’way DG8 0JQ. 01581 300682

The shop covers two floors, with downstairs housing a massive variety of shotguns and rifles