King Street in Castle Douglas is in the running to be named the best high street in the country.
Judges from the Great British High Street Awards will be visiting the town next month after the thoroughfare was shortlisted in the “rising star” category.
It faces stiff competition for the award, with six other Scottish high streets also in contention.
So we headed to King Street to find out why folk felt it was so special.
First up was Brian Kennett from Monreith. He said: “I think it’s a great high street. There’s a lot of different shops in there, which are not things that you get every day of the week, which is the attraction of it.
“Unfortunately there seem to be a few more going vacant so perhaps the council needs to look at its ratings policy to encourage more as it can become a very vicious spiral.
Stephen Allen was also visiting the town, having made the journey from near Penrith.
He said: “We’re staying over at Brighouse and we’ve come in to Castle Douglas a few times for a wander around the shops because you can’t beat the local shops. The small shops are much better than supermarkets.
“This is our second trip up here this summer. We were up here in June and came to spend two or three hours in Castle Douglas walking up and down and spend a few shillings.”
One of the newer shops to appear on the street is the Dumfries and Galloway Canine Rescue shop, which opened in May.
Volunteer Doreen Winter said: “ There’s lots of interesting shops, they’re all independent and you can get almost anything here.
“We’ve got the car park up the top and you can park in Cotton Street or Queen Street if you can’t get in here. Parking is important.”
Another relatively recent arrival is the United Bricks custom Lego shop, which definitely fits the description of a unique outlet.
Reece Winspear said: We opened last October. We were a bit unsure how a shop would go but it’s bene very well received. A lot of people have said it’s good to see a shop like this in the town. We’ve been very busy and we’re pleased we took the chance to open a shop.
“There’s a wide variety of stores available. It’s quite a nice, friendly, welcoming place to explore and see what you can find. There’s a lot of nice shop fronts and there don’t seem to be any empty shops.
