THE family behind a business dating back more than 100 years is preparing to ‘lock up shop’ for the last time.

JS Main and Sons, based on Haddington High Street, has been in the town for more than a century and in its current premises since 1926, having previously been based on Market Street and St Anne’s Place.

The saddler’s has been a firm fixture in the town, with the town’s business association paying tribute to Mr Main’s decades there.

John Main, who plans to sell the shop and retire, has been working in the business for the last 45 years.

He said: “I’ve enjoyed it over the years and had a good relationship with the customers.

“It is just something I’ve really enjoyed and it has just come to the point where I feel it is time to hand over to someone with a bit more energy.”

The business was originally formed by John’s grandfather, James Smith Main, who took over from another saddler.

Sixty-two-year-old John said: “In those days, it was mainly the harness making for the working horses before the tractors and so on.

“That was their main business up to the late 1940s, when mechanisation to farms came along and they had to diversify into tools, hardware and other things.

“As for today, it is a challenge as the trade changed over the years and we have evolved to offer various different things.”

John joined the business along with his brother Tom, who sadly passed away in 2009, as well as his father Fergus and mum Margaret.

However, the family’s connection to the town goes back even further.

John, of Acredales, said: “You could go back to my great-grandfather, who was a shoemaker, and my great, great-grandfather was a tanner.

“You are going back four generations – I’m not really an incomer!”

The business expanded next door, selling clothing for the people going shooting and fishing.

However, when Tom passed away, they decided to cut back and focus on the one shop.

Tom would become involved in politics and became a councillor for Dunbar for seven years from 1977.

However, John admitted seeing his brother work as a councillor put him off taking on a similar role.

“I saw too much of what he did,” he said. “It took an awful lot out of his time. When he was first involved, he was told it might be a half day but it turned into an awful lot more than that.

“My involvement was with the Haddington and District Business Association (HDBA), where I was chairman for quite a long time.”

That saw him involved from the early 1980s through to Tesco and Sainsbury’s battle for a new store at Gateside, on the western side of Haddington.

Now, he plans to sell the shop as a going concern and is hopeful of locking up for the last time at some point this summer.

That will see him, along with wife Moira, spend more time with their family including children Alasdair, Joanna, and also Susan, who works as an English teacher in Romania with the British Council.

He added: “Over the years, there have been a few health problems and it is maybe time to take it a bit easier.

“I’m here six days a week and it is time to catch up on some holidays.”

Nico de Freitas, a member of HDBA and a former community councillor, felt he would be “greatly missed”.

He added: “He is a proper gentleman and he really cares about the people he comes into contact with.”