A BUTCHER’S shop which is closing this weekend will be a “huge loss”.

Ramsay’s Family Butchers, which has been based in Gullane for more than a decade, will shut on Saturday.

The business, on Summerside Place, is the latest in the village to confirm it will be closing or relocating.

Gullane is set to become home to more than 300 new homes over the coming years and has already been left without a Post Office, while the Bank of Scotland – the only bank in Gullane – is shutting on October 18.

A statement from the butcher said: “It is with deep regret, due to personal circumstances, the business will close on Saturday.

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank most sincerely all customers from near and far for their continued and valuable support given, making the business the success that it was. We have made many friends during the past 14 years.”

The business is managed by Martin Ramsay, who works in the shop alongside his brother Andrew and parents James and Janet.

Jeremy Findlay, ward councillor and village resident, described the shop’s decision to close as “a huge loss” and added: “Anything that reduces the facilities for the people of Gullane to shop locally is obviously to be greatly regretted.”

He feared the reduced shops and businesses – which will also include master baker Falko, who is moving to Haddington – would be detrimental to village life.

Mr Findlay said: “Three hundred houses are coming and it makes you wonder what sort of village we are going to have.

“We are just going to become a dormitory for Edinburgh, with no life of its own, which is not something anyone in the village would like to see.”

He called for a greater number of small business units to be included within developments across the county to encourage local people and their businesses.

Currently, work is under way to transform the former fire college site on the village’s eastern edge into 125 new homes.

Meanwhile, 150 homes at Saltcoats Field – to the south of Gullane – and 48 at Fenton Gait East, near the former fire college, also have planning permission.