The following photos are of pages in another 1960s brochure produced by Dunbar Town Council. There is no date on the brochure but it was before 1969 as the cost of a caravan space at Winterfield was given as 7/- a night for July and August and 45/- a week. On the title page, it states “Dunbar: the official guide book. Issued by Dunbar Town Council. Produced and compiled by John L Grainger, Publicity and Entertainments Officer for the Royal Burgh of Dunbar”.
The photo above shows the Lothian Hotel which was run by the Togneri family and was recognised as a slightly more upmarket private hotel, well known for its good food. Note the attractive flower pots all along the front of the hotel. Interestingly, it refers to the “right” atmosphere – and if you did not know what that was, well….. you shouldn’t be asking. The photos also shows Starks Motor Services office next door and people could buy bus tickets or book places on tours here. To the right is Downie’s paper shop and next door to that is Melvin Smith’s Ladies and Gents Outfitter, then Knox’s paper shop and then Grahame the baker’s. All of the businesses shown here did very well with the large number of visitors which Dunbar had in the 1960s.
There was excitement to be had at Belhaven beach in the form of the two sports above. Stock car racing attracted many visitors and locals, who came to see the thrills and (especially) spills of the battered cars which raced around the beach on summer evenings. Some cars came off the “track” which was roughly marked out, and ended up in the water, having to be quickly rescued by drivers and spectators.
Many of the tourists to Dunbar in the 1960s stayed in guest houses and 4 of these are shown above. You can see that two of the residences have “Hot and cold in all rooms” noted in their adverts i.e. this was not guaranteed in all guest house rooms. There were of course, no ensuite rooms available in these guest houses or indeed hotels at this time – there was no expectation of such luxury that we now take for granted 60 years later. Also, three of the four adverts indicate that guests should expect “personal supervision” and this was one of the attractions of guest houses – a friendly welcome. Some people returned to the same guest house every year and became well known to the proprietors.
At this time in the summer, people turned up in droves to the 2 caravan sites shown above. The top site was at Winterfield and the caravans started at the bottom of the main rugby pitch. In the photo, you can see at the top right, Knockenhair House and further to the left, after the trees, the large house which also dominates the skyline. Further to the left, just above the caravans, you can see the old rugby club house which was replaced by a new club house in the early 1970s. To the left of the man standing in front of the fence, was a building which contained the site administration office as well as showers, changing rooms and toilets. The site below was at Kirk Park and is now a housing development. This site had similar facilities to the one along the road at Winterfield. In the photo, you can see the top of Belhaven church on the left and the caravan site bordered the land behind the church.
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