Castle Douglas

Castle Douglas
Castle Douglas
Details
iBase ID
2264
Title
Castle Douglas
Description
The market town of Castle Douglas in Southwest Scotland has a population of around 4100. It has become the main shopping centre for the Stewartry serving people within a 15-20 miles radius including the towns of Kirkcudbright, Dalbeattie and Gatehouse of Fleet but also drawing in shoppers from as far afield as Newton Stewart and Dumfries.
Castle Douglas is characterised by the unusually high proportion of independent shops and businesses which makes it a vibrant and rather special shopping destination. So when the Third Age Trust launched a national shared learning project on how our High Streets are changing we wanted Castle Douglas to be part of this.
So far we have surveyed the shops in King Street only, initially in May 2021 with a partial update in August. It was interesting to note that in the few months since the initial survey, there had already been 6 or 7 significant changes.
The initial survey found that there were 1 national chain (Boots), 7 regional chains and confirmed that King Street was dominated by small independent shops and businesses.
By August this year there were 109 business premises on King Street of which only 12 were vacant or under redevelopment. However this did include some large premises like the Douglas Arms. We found that interestingly, Castle Douglas the ‘Food Town’ has 16 cafes, restaurants and take-aways and 11 food outlets including 3 family butchers.
Of course, as in any high street in the country changes are happening on a daily basis. A survey, even when updated can only present a snap shot in time.
What we hope to do next:-
• Document further changes
• Refresh the photos at least annually
• Investigate first floor use
• Add interesting architectural and historic information
• Possibly extend the area of study
Authors Eileen Johnson and Sue Hudson
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