Peeblesshire News | News | Remembering Veitch's 123 years of service

Published: Friday, 23rd March, 2007 10:51

Remembering Veitch's 123 years of service

By Jamie Halpin

THE people of Peebles are rightly proud of the town’s traditions and many are dedicated to preserving what’s ‘ay been.’ So if they heard the bells of the Parish Church ringing out at the unusual time of 4pm on a Saturday, they must have stopped in their tracks.

Robert Veitch was spending his last working day in the family shop before closing its doors after four generations of ownership. Veitch’s, drapers, tailors, and ladies and gents outfitters, was closing after 123 years of dedicated service to customers from Peebles and beyond.

Robert had wondered for ‘whom the bells tolled’ on that Saturday afternoon earlier this month. It was only when a well-wisher took him outside of the shop that he realised that the chimes of ‘For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow’ were for him.

He said: “It was such an emotional day and hearing the church bells playing for me is something Jean and I will always remember - especially on a day when we had so many well-wisher coming in.”

Robert was 25 when he took over the shop and worked in it for 30 years. He had just left the army after serving in the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and had a couple of tours of duty in Northern Ireland.

He was part of the regimental pipe band who recorded ‘Amazing Grace’, which became a best-selling single in 1971. Robert was a renowned piper and was 18 at the time of the record’s success. “We didn’t make a lot of money out of it,” he recalled. “The record company deal we had wasn’t very good, which was a common occurrence at that time.”

It was Robert’s great-grandfather, the son of farm labourer from Newlands in Peeblesshire, who set-up the business in 1884. He started a small shop based in his home in Gladstone Place.

After many hard hours building up his business, Robert’s great-grandfather, whose name was also Robert Veitch, quickly gained a reputation for quality. The business grew until it became too large for the house and he moved to the now well-known Corner House, joining the High Street and Northgate.

Before the impressive Victorian building was constructed, a tenement building with outside stairs stood on the site, known as Cunzie Neuk, until 1879, when it was demolished.

In 1886 the old flats were replaced with a large, elegant stonework building, which, by the standards of the day, housed extremely modern premises.

Mr Veitch took the opportunity to move his business to the new building with premium space along the High Street.

But this modest man did not yet use his family name on the shopfront – instead settling with ‘2 and 4 High Street’.

Around 1900 the firm expanded to 1 and 3 Northgate, moving into premises vacated by butcher John Laidlaw and bootmaker James Mason.

Soon after, plumber John Wilson left his office space and the still-growing Corner House was able to expand further.

Flats above the shop eventually became the ladies’ outfitting department on the first floor and dressmakers on the second and top levels.

In those days when clothes were manufactured on site, the shop employed 26 women and girls to produce a steady supply of garments.

By the time the original Robert Veitch passed on the reins of the business to his son Bishop, the Corner House was complete.

Bishop trained for four years in London and after returning to Peebles worked hard to maintain the high standards of quality and service established by his father.

The shop continued to offer quality and value to customers, staying abreast of the latest fashions and was eventually passed on to the next generation when the current Robert Veitch’s father Douglas took the helm.

Douglas trained with Jenners in Edinburgh where he gained an intimate knowledge of the business which Robert had the good fortune to learn from after he left the army 30 years ago.

Peter Norris, as chairman of Peebles Civic Society, valued the architecture of Veitch’s Corner House as well as the quality of the service inside.

He said: “As a Peebles shopper, it has been a marvellous shop, giving wonderful personal service and has helped give Peebles its high reputation as a shopping centre.

“It is a great shame it will be no more. I hope a future owner will retain it in it its existing form. It has some special features, such as the curved windows on the turrets and some unusual metalwork on the roof.

“I have often wondered where, Cunzie Neuk, the name of the little lane that runs behind it comes from.”

Although Veitch’s is the oldest outfitters and tailors in Peebles, Graham McGrath opened a similar business in the town in 1949. But there was never any rivalry between the two shops.

Director Mike McGrath said: “Relationships between the businesses were always friendly. When we were short of stock, Robert would help us out and we would return the compliment when necessary.”

And this friendship extended beyond business matters. “When my wife Sandra and I completed Ben More, our final Munro, it was Robert who piped us up to the top of the mountain. He was playing, fittingly enough, ‘Come o’er the Hills to Peebles.’”

The decision to close the shop after 123 years was a difficult one for Robert, especially with 11 members of staff to consider. He said: “Five of the staff were about to retire, but that didn’t make the decision any easier to make.

“We haven’t got any kids to pass the business on to and Jean and I had a gut feeling, an instinct, that this was the best time to finish up.”

Robert Veitch is proud to have been of service to the people of Peebles and he hopes that they hold him in similar high regard. “I would like to say ‘thank you’ to all the people of Peebles for their loyalty over the years, “ he said.

“They have been great for the family business and I hope they feel that that loyalty they have shown over the years has been rewarded by the service we have provided.”

Peebles Community Council chairman Ian Wilson has no doubt about that the people of Peebles will always have fond memories of Veitch’s. He said: “It was at the forefront of the retail set-up in Peebles. It is an institution.

“Robert’s father was the Cornet when I was young and it will be funny without the shop being there.

“It is a landmark for the people of Peebles. Although the building at the junction of the High Street and the Northgate will no longer carry the family name, it will be always be known as Veitch’s Corner.”

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