Kirkness & Gorie is hidden away down a narrow lane we call Gorie’s Close. The passageway opens into a tiny square with an oak tree and a couple of benches. It’s a lovely, peaceful spot to spend your working day. But every so often I feel the need to take a wee wander to see what’s going on in the real world, the bustling boulevard of Broad Street. It seemed particularly necessary in recent weeks, as I read and heard comments from folk saying how busy the town was. ‘Tourists!’ they cried, ‘Hordes of liner passengers! The pavements are impassable!’

More than a few have said they avoid coming to Kirkwall on days when they know there’s a big liner in, to avoid the crush. This is a worrying comment for any shopkeeper to hear. Tourism may provide icing on the cake, but most shops’ bread and butter is local trade. So I’ve been going up to Broad Street several times a day, phone in hand, and taking three photos: north towards Albert Street, straight ahead to the war memorial, and south towards Victoria Street.

I now have documentary evidence. The pavements are not jam packed, and getting along Broad Street is nothing like getting through the ba scrum. Even on the busiest liner days, the photos prove you can walk from one end of the street to the other with barely a sideways step. The exception to this is the entrance path to the cathedral. That is often full of visitors: some standing and admiring the building, some making their way inside.

That sums up the whole tourism ‘problem’ in my view. There isn’t a problem in most parts of the county most of the time, but insufficiently managed large-scale tourism does create issues at particular times and particular places.

I was on one of my photographic reconnaissance missions at the end of last week, when I saw my pal Councillor Swadge enjoying the sun on the Kirk Green dyke. I went over for a blether.

‘I see the council’s finally getting to grips with liner numbers,’ I said.

‘It’s a start,’ he said. ‘Though tourism strategy is about more than just liners.’

‘I know,’ I said, ‘But it’s a good start. I haven’t met anyone who thinks it’s a bad idea. They just wish the caps could be implemented quicker.’

‘This is a local authority we’re talking about,’ he said, gritting his teeth. ‘Quick is not really a word in the vocabulary.’

I nodded. ‘It’s a complicated subject,’ I said. ‘It’s all right for Harbours. Their job is to securely dock whatever ship appears and get the passengers off the pier safely. And they’re doing that very well. At the other end there’s us: shopkeepers, cafés, tour guides, bus and taxi drivers, dozens of folk making crafts and food and drink. We’re doing a good job too.’

‘Do I hear the Sally Army band coming?’ said Swadge. ‘Oh no, it’s just you blowing your own trumpet.’

‘It’s the bit in the middle that’s the problem,’ I said, ‘The infrastructure. Roads, cycle paths, bus stops. Signage, regulation, integration with other kinds of visitors. Public toilets! You have to have as clear a strategy for all that as Harbours or us private businesses do for our part of the operation.’

He shifted uneasily on his stone seat. ‘We’re working on it,’ he said.

‘Can you not work a bit faster?’

‘There’s a lot on our plate, you know,’ he said. ‘Funding cuts. Housing shortages. Ferries.’

‘Hark!’ I said, ‘Is that a ghostly echo of Jennifer Wrigley coming out of The Reel? Oh no, it’s just your and your tiny fiddle!’

He laughed. ‘Touché,’ he said.

‘We’re a small place with a small population,’ I said. ‘It’s hard to keep the economy thriving with just 20,000 folk: we need visitors to bring money into the county. But it won’t work if it’s boom and bust. It has to be managed so it’s a good experience for them, and sustainable for us. The council needs to provide thoughtful, confident, clearly-communicated leadership.’

‘Wise words,’ he said. ‘But it’s me who’s saying them. You’re doing your usual diary thing of giving yourself all the best lines and making me sound daft and ineffective.’

I laughed. ‘Not at all, Councillor Swadge,’ I said.

‘You’ll be giving me a made-up satirical name next,’ he said.

The top three photos show Broad Street at 11.53am on 23rd August: 2,063 liner passengers.
The second row of photos is from 3.08pm that same day. By this time, another liner with 3,800 passengers on board had docked. So these pictures show Kirkwall with 5,863 visitors. This is one of the busiest days of the year.
The bottom row is 11.52 am on Thursday 31st, when 4,250 cruise passengers were in town. Another one of the busiest days of the year.

This diary appeared in The Orcadian on 30th August 2023. A new one appears weekly. I post them in this blog a few days after each newspaper appearance, with added illustrations., and occasional small corrections or additions.

Diary of a Shopkeeper, 27th August