![\"Derelict](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/magazine.dailybusinessgroup.co.uk\/wp_mag14\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Derelict-pub-Musselburgh.png?resize=907%2C561&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nDereliction in Musselburgh High Street (pic: DB Media Services)<\/p>\n
Tidying up shops and streets is as important as cutting the cost of doing business, argues TERRY MURDEN<\/h4>\n
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At one end of Musselburgh High Street the Kaffeine cafe was crammed with customers enjoying brunch and taking advantage of the Sunday morning sunshine. They may not have been tempted to stray much further along the town\u2019s main thoroughfare which, like many others around the country, would not invite anyone to hang about too long.<\/p>\n
It was the weekend of the town\u2019s art festival and first time visitors who crossed the tree-lined River Esk, with its rows of pretty cottages, would be in for a rude shock when confronted by the drab and scruffy shops, garish facias and broken paving that make up the town centre. <\/p>\n
This dismal state of affairs is shared across the country. Edinburgh\u2019s once-grand Princes Street is now a collection of ugly buildings occupied by some upmarket retailers trying to outshine the shabby discount stores and the general air of neglect that faces the grandeur of the Castle and the Old Town.<\/p>\n
This is what awaits the Prime Minister as he tours the UK asking the public how the government can improve their lives, with a focus on tackling the cost of living and improving local high streets.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s certainly got his work cut out. Musselburgh would be an informed destination. Its wide shopping street, made up largely of historic buildings, could be the pride of East Lothian. Instead, it is not a place you\u2019d spend much time taking selfies, let alone doing the weekly shop, though if you\u2019re looking for vapes, pound items or an ornamental chimpanzee giving the middle finger then this is your place.<\/p>\n
David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, insists it is all about making it easier to do business. \u201cIt\u2019s heartening to hear the new PM\u2019s focus on living standards and a renaissance of the country\u2019s high streets. After all a buoyant retail industry is central to the revival of our high streets and town and city centres.<\/p>\n Empty unit reveals a blast from the past (pic: DB Media Services)<\/p>\n Buildings and paving suffer from neglect and shabbiness (pic: DB Media Services)<\/p>\n \u201cTo achieve that\u00a0politicians need a laser-like focus on\u00a0fixing the cost of doing business as this is the way to fix the cost of living and help\u00a0retailers\u2019 efforts to keep down shop prices. <\/p>\n \u201cThat means easing the cumulative regulatory burden on firms; too\u00a0often governments treat individual policy initiatives as isolated actions with little regard for their combined impact on retailers. It also means cutting business rates further.\u201d<\/p>\n A shop selling a model chimp telling visitors where to go (pic: DB Media Services)<\/p>\n While business rates and online shopping take a share of the blame for the decline of high streets, local authorities stand accused of failing to \u201cinsist or assist\u201d on improvements to shopfronts that make high streets more welcoming. <\/p>\n Criticism can also be pointed landlords and shopkeepers whose failure to even give a lick of paint to some drab exteriors is a self-inflicted injury.<\/p>\n Historic towns like York have managed to retain an air of elegance without scaring off the big chains, insisting on proportionate and colour co-ordinated facias. Even McDonalds was forced to abandon its red and yellow identity in order to fit in with the medieval centre.<\/p>\n Given the efforts by North Berwick to ensure its high street is more presentable, it will be no surprise that it attracts a generous share of visitors, thereby boosting the local economy.<\/p>\n A recent decision by East Lothian Council to impose car parking charges therefore dismayed local traders, concerned that it would force local shoppers to choose out of town destinations.<\/p>\n It is too early to assess the impact of the new charges, but like the visitor levy being imposed in Edinburgh, it may be one route to keeping up appearances and a lesson for towns like Musselburgh.<\/p>\n![\"Empty](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/magazine.dailybusinessgroup.co.uk\/wp_mag14\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Empty-Woolworths-Musselburgh.png?resize=907%2C621&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/magazine.dailybusinessgroup.co.uk\/wp_mag14\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Neglect-Musselburgh.png?resize=907%2C652&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/magazine.dailybusinessgroup.co.uk\/wp_mag14\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Musselburgh-chimp.png?resize=964%2C670&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\nLike this:<\/h3>\n