[edit]
The arts[edit]
Robert Burns wrote two poems about Galashiels, Sae Fair Her Hair and Braw Lads. The latter is sung by some of the townsfolk each year at the Braw Lads Gathering. Sir Walter Scott built his home, Abbotsford, just across the River Tweed from Galashiels. The Sir Walter Scott Way, a long-distance path from Moffat to Cockburnspath, passes through Galashiels. There is some largely good-hearted rivalry between some of the Galashiels townsfolk and those of other border towns, particularly Hawick, the next largest town in the Scottish Borders. Galashiels' citizens often refer to their rival as dirty Hawick while the 'Teries' retort that Galashiels's residents are pail merks, supposedly because their town was the last to be plumbed into the mains water system and so residents had to rely on buckets as toilets.
Galashiels was home to the poet, painter and watercolourist George Hope Tait. Tait joined the Galashiels Town Council, on which he served for more than twenty-nine years. He played a key role in the establishment of the Braw Lads Gathering in 1930, as well as in the erection of the War Memorial and the construction of the new Burgh Chambers in Galashiels. The town was home to the author of the famous Scottish song Coulters Candy. Robert Coltart was a weaver in the town, but also made confectionery in nearby Melrose. The song was created as an advertisement and hence was renamed Sugar Candy when played by the BBC. The song is possibly better known by the first line of its chorus - "Ally, bally, ally bally bee". Coltart died in 1890. A statue of Coltart now stands in the Market Square. The 1985 Marillion hit single Kayleigh was partially inspired by events that took place in Galashiels as the band's lead singer, Fish, spent some time in the town in his earlier years. In 2012, the Scottish Borders Council undertook work to revamp the Market Square with lyrics of the song inscribed into the paving slabs. Fish officially reopened the square on completion later that year.
A new £6.7m Great Tapestry of Scotland Centre opened in Galashiels on 21 August 2021, to house one of the world's largest tapestries and community arts projects. The Great Tapestry of Scotland was hand stitched by over 1,000 people across Scotland and had been taken for display around the country throughout its six-years' creation, the original brainchild of Edinburgh-born author Alexander McCall Smith, whose vision it was to create a tapestry telling the history of Scotland. The new purpose-built gallery, visitor centre, café and workshop space has been created and, on the opening day, saw the 160th and final tapestry panel revealed by chief stitcher Dorie Wilkie, accompanied by McCall Smith himself.
The Pavilion Cinema in Market Street opened in 1922 as a cinema, dance hall and theatre, originally named the Playhouse. The auditorium was converted to a bingo hall in the 1960s. The building was refurbished in the early 1990s, with its original art-deco façade being restored. It is now a four-screen cinema.
Sports[edit]
The following sports clubs are based in Galashiels:
Gala Cricket Club
Gala Fairydean Rovers (association football)
Gala RFC (rugby union)
Galashiels Golf Club
Galashiels Squash and Racketball club
Landmarks[edit]
The town is home to the Glasite church, in danger of being lost, but still standing sandwiched between mills and shop buildings on High Street, Botany Lane and Roxburgh Street.
Netherdale is home to Gala RFC and Gala Fairydean Rovers, with the football and rugby stadiums adjoining each other at one end. The football club's main stand was built in 1963 to designs by Peter Womersley, based in nearby Gattonside. The cantilevered concrete structure, in the Brutalist style, is now protected as a Category A listed building.
Television and print[edit]
Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC Scotland and ITV Border. Television signal are received from the Selkirk and the local relay transmitters.
Local radio stations are BBC Radio Scotland on 93.5 FM, Greatest Hits Radio Scottish Borders and North Northumberland on 96.8 FM and TD1 Radio, a community based radio station that broadcast on 106.5 FM.
The Border Telegraph and Southern Reporter are the town's local newspapers.
