Bank Street Listed Buildings Group

Early nineteenth century to 1946 · Bank Street · Five listed building groups

A compact architectural history of commercial Galashiels, where early houses, shops, a former post office, a public house and an imposing bank record more than a century of change.

Last reviewed: 15 July 2026.

Quick Facts

Why the Street Matters

Bank Street is not significant because every building belongs to one architectural period. It matters because several stages in the growth of Galashiels survive side by side. Modest whinstone houses from the early nineteenth century stand near later shopfronts, an unusually intact public house, an early twentieth-century corner block and a large classical bank designed before the Second World War and completed afterwards.

This variety makes the street a useful lesson in how to read an urban centre. Ground-floor businesses have changed repeatedly, and some shopfronts are modern, but upper floors, rooflines, masonry and surviving interiors preserve older patterns. Historic Environment Scotland’s records also show that the open spaces around the street were important places for meetings and public gatherings, not merely gaps between buildings.

Scott’s Place Becomes Bank Street

The northern part of the street was formerly associated with the name Scott’s Place. Historic Environment Scotland links the later name Bank Street to the National Bank established here. A National Bank building opened on the site of number 35 in 1825, only a year after John Wood’s map recorded the early town. The street name therefore preserves the history of banking as well as describing a location.

At 5-7 Bank Street, the earlier group was known as Haldane’s Court, while the square in front was called Scott’s Place. The same buildings contained the town’s main post office in 1822. Together, those facts show that this was already a centre of communication, trade and public life before the great expansion of Victorian Galashiels.

The Five Listed Groups

5-7 Bank Street: Haldane’s Court and the Early Post Office

This Category C group is predominantly early nineteenth century. A symmetrical, two-storey former townhouse and shops is joined to a taller later nineteenth-century commercial building, producing an L-shaped plan around a back court. Random whinstone rubble, painted margins and quoins, sash-and-case windows and slate roofs preserve much of the earlier character, despite later shopfronts and office conversion.

The historical associations are unusually rich. HES records the building as the town’s main post office in 1822 and identifies the group as Haldane’s Court. Later uses included a florist and first-floor rooms occupied by a corsetiere. Some internal features survive, including shutters, panelling, cast-iron firegrates and a curved stair to the attic. These buildings deserve eventual consideration for a standalone entry because they connect the surviving fabric directly to the pre-industrial town centre.

28-29 Bank Street: A Rare Early Survivor

Numbers 28 and 29 began as an early nineteenth-century dwelling and were divided into two properties by the time of the first Ordnance Survey. HES describes them as the only relatively unaltered early building to survive the street’s comprehensive later nineteenth-century redevelopment. Their painted whinstone walls, small upper windows, slate roof and rounded rubble corner are deliberately modest beside the grander commercial buildings.

The house originally had a garden on the opposite side of the street; that land was later absorbed into the public gardens. By 1897, number 29 was occupied by J. P. Emslie, fishmonger and poulterer, and the rear extension was already present. The upper and attic floors retain a plain late-Georgian interior with panelled doors, cast-iron fireplaces and a curved timber stair. Here, rarity comes from survival rather than grandeur.

35 Bank Street: The National Bank and Royal Bank

The largest and most formal building on the street occupies a banking site used since 1825. The present Category B building was designed in 1939 by the prominent Scottish practice Dick Peddie, Todd and Jamieson, but wartime conditions delayed construction until 1946, when J. R. McKay was responsible for the project. It was built for the National Bank of Scotland and later became associated with the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The symmetrical classical frontage has seven bays, a projecting centre, stone pilasters and slender granite Corinthian columns. Rusticated quoins, a carved crest and a black marble base give the building an authority suited to its purpose and commanding position opposite Bank Street Gardens. HES notes that a 1955 photograph showed a flat roof; the present pitched roof form was visible by about 1960, suggesting that completion or alteration occurred in phases.

This building merits a future standalone entry. Its story spans the early National Bank, the naming of Bank Street, an important architectural practice and the effect of the Second World War on construction.

57-58 Bank Street: The Auld Mill Inn

The Auld Mill Inn began as an earlier nineteenth-century dwelling and was remodelled as a public house. Its later nineteenth-century frontage is especially valuable: a five-bay corniced timber shopfront with pilasters, etched glass and a half-glazed inner door sits below pointed dormers with decorative bargeboards and finials.

HES also records unusually complete early twentieth-century bar fittings, including timber dado panelling and fixed bench seating. The inn occupies a prominent position opposite the Cornmill Fountain and Burgh Chambers, beside an area long used for gatherings. Its significance is therefore architectural and social: the building preserves both a distinctive public-house interior and the memory of town-centre sociability.

62 Bank Street: The Corner House

The Corner House is an early twentieth-century classical commercial building with dressed ashlar walls, a corbelled parapet and mansard roof. Its upper windows are framed by architraves and pilasters, while mosaic lettering reading “CORNER HOUSE” survives at the entrance step. The upper floor retains a panelled room and access to the attic.

Its unusual tall, abruptly cut-off form reflects a change to the street itself. The building replaced the King’s Temperance Hotel, demolished during the widening of Market Street. The architecture therefore records a piece of town planning: its corner shape is the physical result of adapting a commercial site to a changed road alignment.

Bank Street Gardens and Civic Space

The buildings cannot be understood without the open ground opposite them. Part of this land had once been the garden belonging to the house at 28-29 Bank Street. Scottish Borders Council’s Common Good register records that Bank Street Gardens were acquired by the burgh in stages between 1939 and 1965. The gardens now provide breathing space in the dense centre and a formal setting for the bank facade.

At the lower end of the street, the Cornmill Fountain, Burgh Chambers and nearby civic buildings broaden the setting again. Bank Street thus connects commercial, recreational and civic spaces rather than functioning only as a row of shops.

Architecture in Layers

The street’s material character is not uniform. Early buildings use local whinstone rubble, sometimes painted, with sandstone margins and slate roofs. Later commercial work introduces more regular dressed stone, larger windows, stronger cornices and formal classical detail. Timber shopfronts and public-house fittings survive alongside replacements from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

That layered appearance is historically truthful. A commercial street is continually adapted as businesses, display practices and public expectations change. The heritage value lies partly in what survives above and behind the newest alterations, and partly in the visible contrast between different periods.

Things to Notice

• The contrast between humble whinstone at 28-29 and the smooth ashlar of the bank
• Upper-floor sash windows and roof forms above changing shopfronts
• The curved rubble corner and small openings of 28-29 Bank Street
• The bank’s granite Corinthian columns, carved crest and black marble base
• The Auld Mill Inn’s pilastered timber frontage, etched glass and pointed dormers
• The “CORNER HOUSE” mosaic at number 62
• How the public gardens allow the bank and opposite elevations to be seen as a group
• The transition from commercial Bank Street to the civic spaces around Albert Place

Timeline

• Early nineteenth century: The buildings now numbered 5-7, 28-29 and 57-58 originate as houses or mixed domestic and commercial premises.
• 1822: The town’s main post office occupies the Haldane’s Court group at 5-7 Bank Street.
• 1824: John Wood’s map records the early form of Galashiels around Scott’s Place.
• 1825: The National Bank opens an earlier building on the site of number 35.
• Later nineteenth century: Bank Street is extensively redeveloped; the Auld Mill Inn receives its surviving public-house frontage.
• By 1897: J. P. Emslie trades as a fishmonger and poulterer at number 29.
• Early twentieth century: Corner House replaces the King’s Temperance Hotel after Market Street widening.
• 1939: Dick Peddie, Todd and Jamieson design the present National Bank building.
• 1946: Construction of the bank proceeds under J. R. McKay after wartime delay.
• 1939-65: The burgh acquires the land forming Bank Street Gardens in stages.
• 2006: All five groups are added to the statutory list.

Significance Scores

These are editorial guide scores for the streetscape as a whole, not statutory designations. See How We Assess Significance.

Notes and Uncertainties

• This page interprets a streetscape, not one statutory entity. Dates, listing coverage and architectural descriptions must be read against the five individual HES records.
• Historic uses are securely recorded in the HES entries, but present occupiers can change quickly and have not been used as evidence of long-term building history.
• The 1939 bank design and 1946 construction date are both correct: the Second World War delayed building work.
• HES notes evidence that the bank roof changed between 1955 and about 1960. The precise sequence of construction and alteration would benefit from examination of plans and local newspaper reports.
• The relation between Scott’s Place, Haldane’s Court and the later Bank Street numbering should be checked against successive valuation rolls and street directories before attaching individual businesses to exact modern addresses.

Image and Licence Notes

The photograph above shows 35 Bank Street and is reusable under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0; the creator and licence are given in the caption. It represents the largest building in the group rather than the whole streetscape. A future site-owned photograph looking along Bank Street would improve this page by showing the relationship among the listed buildings and gardens.

Related Places

• Former Post Office, 1 Channel Street
• Burgh Chambers and Clock Tower
• Gala Mill Lade and Round Tree Bridge
• Former Douglas Hotel and Channel Street Buildings
• Victoria Buildings

Sources

• Historic Environment Scotland, 5-7 Bank Street, LB50661.
• Historic Environment Scotland, 28 and 29 Bank Street, LB50666.
• Historic Environment Scotland, 35 Bank Street, Royal Bank of Scotland, LB50662.
• Historic Environment Scotland, 57 and 58 Bank Street, The Auld Mill Inn, LB50665.
• Historic Environment Scotland, 62 Bank Street, Corner House, LB50670.
• Scottish Borders Council, Galashiels Conservation Area.
• Scottish Borders Council, Galashiels Common Good property register, entry for Bank Street Gardens.
• National Records of Scotland, Plan of the Town of Galashiels by John Wood, 1824, RHP82832.
• RCAHMS / Historic Scotland, Historic Galashiels: Archaeology and Development, 2011.
• Wikimedia Commons, 35 Bank Street, Royal Bank of Scotland, Victuallers, CC BY-SA 4.0.