Economy

The Borders is a fairly large area but has only about 100,000 people. They are very loosely spread becuase the economy is predominantly agriculture, at least 70%, so that the "other business" tends to be agriculturally related, machinery, engineering, wells and water, crops, livestock etc. The next area would be small manufacturers, clothing, weaving and related industries, but many of these are in decline as smart manufacturing moves to China and other Asian markets. Finally are the support services, shops and outlets who provide the infrastructure. These are all concentrated in several small towns, Berwick, Duns, Hawick, Selkirk, Kelso, Galashiels, St Boswells, Jedburgh, Melrose, Earlston, Lauder, none of which really has the momentum to be "the Border town", the nearest is Galashiels. But one finds that its often necessary to go to two or even three places to cover needs.