Alex Dalgetty& Sons

Alex Dalgetty had worked for Robert Douglas of Selkirk — the baker credited with inventing the Selkirk bannock, that dense fruited teabread — and when he set up on his own in Galashiels around 1892 he brought the recipe with him; five generations later his great-great-grandson Craig Murray is master baker, and the bakehouse on Island Street still sells the Famous Original Selkirk Bannock as its signature. A second shop trades in Melrose, disclosed here as the pair. The bannock is one of Scotland's genuine regional breads, and the argument over who bakes the truest is precisely the sort a book town's neighbouring valley should have; Dalgetty's claim is the strongest going.