The small Scottish town seizing on its big Robert Burns connection

Today, you can still dine in the 18th-century kitchen where Mrs Hyslop worked but today the inn is Michelin listed and the menu offers Scottish fare with a classy, modern twist. Customers can sit in Burns’ chair, dine at a table which dates to the time of his custom or even sleep in the bedroom where the poet lay his head.

The Globe was bought over by Dave Thomson and his wife Theresa Church of the Annandale Distillery in 2019 to preserve The ‘Burns Rooms’ where the bard first spent time after moving to Ellisland Farm north of the town in 1788.

Burns, who by this time had enjoyed the instant success of his Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, frequently made the trip back and forth to Ellisland and The Globe, sometimes sleeping at the tavern when the night got too late to get on his horse home. He then moved into the town in 1791 to focus full time on his job as an exciseman with Dumfries Port Division.

The poet’s life unfolded across the town over the next five years. It is where he lived, worked, attended church, raised his family, died and was laid to rest - twice - with multiple addresses and locations linked to the bard.

Today, The Globe sits at the heart of attempts for Dumfries to do more to seize on its Burns connections - and do Burns better.

While thousands of people visit properties linked to the poet, such as The Globe, the Robert Burns House museum - set in his final home - Ellisland, The Robert Burns Centre, St Michael’s Church, the Burns Mausoleum and the Theatre Royal - Scotland’s oldest working theatre which the poet helped establish - there is a feeling that Dumfries needs to take its place more firmly on the Burns map.

Lee Medd is the head of place making, tourism and events at the Annandale Distillery with The Globe part of his remit.

He said: “When you look at how successful Ayrshire has been in terms of tourism , they have drawn a lot of money from Burns when really he spent such a small part of his life here.

“It is not like he chose to spend time there, he was born there, but he chose to move to Dumfries and he chose to raise a family here . We have got a much stronger claim than Ayrshire, I would say. But realistically it has never been exploited and marketed in the way that it should be.

“I don’t think that people have understood the potential that lies there for a business point of view.”

He said the purchase of The Globe and the formation of the South of Scotland Destination Alliance had helped to bring together Burns forces in the town and build on work already being done by Dumfries and Galloway Council, which run the Burns House Museum and The Robert Burns Centre.

“There is really the idea of ‘what can we do to draw people to the region’?. The draw of culture and literary and historical tourism is so strong now that it has made people sit up.”

Dumfries, where Burns was made a burgess, is also where he produced around a third of his creative output, including pieces such as Ae Fond Kiss, written following the end of his relationship with Nancy McElhose.

His first apartment in the town, which he shared with his wife, Jean, and their three sons in the Wee Vennel, now Bank Street, was later christened The Song Hoose of Scotland. The flat is privately owned and sits above a newsagents, with only a little plaque hinting at its past.

At this time of year, the town’s deep Burns culture is ignited with events such as The Big Burns Supper, which will host 150 events across a number of venues until February 2. Performers include Wet, Wet, Wet, the ska band Bombskare, the Cinelli Brothers and the Belfast Community Gospel Choir. On Saturday, Michelle McManus, Eddi Reader, Grant Dinwoodie and the Lucky Doves will perform in the Loreburne Hall.

Meanwhile, the Burns Mausoleum was opened to the public over last weekend with more than 1,000 people visiting a light and music show by Northern Light. Many local people visited for the first time.

Attention is turning to how Dumfries sustains the Burns connections all year round. While there are already walking tours and leaflets which set out the streets that Burns walked, the places he spent time and the houses where he lived, there are hopes for a Burns’ Quarter to strengthen the routes and importance of the locations to the poet and the man.

Firstly, good signage is planned in tourist languages - including French, German and Chinese or Mandarin, with QR codes to bring information to visitors at any time of the day.

Mr Medd added: “When people come to Dumfries to enjoy the Burns side of it, there has to be an actual trail or connection for people to be able to follow and discover.”

Judith Hewitt is a Museums Curator (East) for Dumfries and Galloway Council and counts Robert Burns House and Robert Burns Centre among her charges.

Burns moved to what is now Burns Street in 1793 and lived here with Jean Armour and his children for the last three years of his life. Jean lived at the address for another 30 years until her death.

It was converted into a museum after being bought by a number of notable Dumfries residents, including Burns ‘son, William Nicoll Burns.

She said: “Burns House has got some wonderful things in it because the family were there for so long. There is that amazing continuity. You look at photographs of it back in the day and you see a chest of drawers, the range, and they are still there, exactly the same as they were. It is exactly as it was, nothing has been moved away. It is also so special as it is so close to where they are all buried.”

Ms Hewitt added: “There is a lot of Burns to see in Dumfries. What has been lacking is a coherent identity and a cohesive visitor experience. Our museum is great, the Globe is great, the theatre is great, the church is great. But the visitor experience between them could be better.