Home Report Galashiels

Located smack dab in the middle of the Scottish Borders county, Galashiels is a town fully aware and proud of its rich history. Galashiels is a picturesque town built upon the Gala Water river and surrounded by the gently rising countryside and rich greenery of this famously beautiful part of Scotland.

Originally known as a regional centre of the textile industry, Galashiels (more commonly “Gala” to the locals) retains this excellence through the Textile and Design Campus, part of Edinburgh’s Herriot Watt University, which is located in the town. The town itself is based around an historic core and contains many unspoiled traditional streetscapes and squares. Visitors can’t fail to be impressed by the beautiful bank street gardens, the stately Old Gala House and, of course, the rolling countryside which is never far away. Life moves at an easy pace in Galashiels.

It is perhaps because of this that Galashiels has recently been voted the happiest place in Scotland to live. A poll by the online property portal Rightmove found it to be the highest placed Scottish town (and the 11th in the UK overall). And this is no doubt connected to the fact that Galashiels has long been considered an excellent commuter town for those living in Edinburgh. Without being too expensive, the town offers an extremely high quality of living and first-rate road and rail links to the capital. Property in Galashiels is dominated by the traditional sandstone architecture which characterises the town’s centre. However, there have been several modern developments around the town which offer new-build flats, terraces and semi-detached houses.