Friday March 13th 2026
Lamp post in North Berwick is in need of restoration
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
East Lothian councillors have unanimously welcomed plans to ask the popular BBC restoration show The Repair Shop to take on restoring an historic town lamp post.
The 100-year-old lamp post in North Berwick was one of two ornate lights gifted to the town by the local gas company in the early 20th century.
One sits at the entrance to the seaside town’s former council chambers building while the other stood outside the home of its serving Provost during their term, moving when they changed.
A meeting of East Lothian Council’s Common Good Committee was this week told that The Repair Shop had been in touch looking for a local restoration project in one of its communities to feature on this year’s Christmas special.
And they said North Berwick Community Council had already been in touch with the show makes to see if they could get their spin off show – a day time on the road series – to look at the lamp.
Known as The Provost’s Lamp it is considered a Common Good asset in the town and officers asked for permission to put the project to the BBC as a possible venture.
And the committee agreed although concerns were raised about the impact on local shops and businesses if it required the post to be cordoned off or work on the site for any extended length of time.
Officers had said it is unlikely the whole post will be able to be removed from the ground for repair with only the ornate lamp shade potentially moveable.
Local ward councillor Carol McFarlane told the meeting: “I am happy to support this but I hope the businesses affected by this restoration are fully informed about permits and any restrictions.”
Council leader Norman Hampshire said: “I will support it, I think it is a really good project. We will need to make sure while this work is ongoing there is Heras fencing around it. That can make the pavement quite narrow and it is a really busy area.
“We will need to make sure whatever the layout is that we leave room for people to get through.”
Councillor John McMillan also welcomed the proposal saying: “This is a really good example of the council and the community working together to preserve this history, to promote our towns, our coast, our countryside through the media. But it is also to preserve the traditions and culture we are all so proud of here.”
The committee unanimously supported officers moving forward with talks with the show over future action.
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