Sign up in bid to keep Braidwood’s last shop open

As previously reported in the Gazette, rising rates and competition from nearby supermarkets meant that Nellfield Filling Station closed its doors on February 28.

The shop was vital to villagers, many of them elderly, who were unable to travel to nearby Carluke for their groceries.

Local man Duncan McFarlane (42) said: “The Spar shop in the petrol station was the last remaining shop in the village.

“People who are too old to drive, disabled, or who don’t own cars have told me they rely on it. Many told me the shop’s owners delivered food, milk and newspapers to people too old or ill to go for them.”

Two separate petitions have been organised to try to keep the shop open; one to Spar UK and other businesses and one to the council to ask the local authority to offer lower business rates.

For more on this, pick up a copy of this week’s Carluke and Lanark Gazette.