What is next on the menu for the 'oyster town' Stranraer?

Few people would have imagined that shellfish would have any part to play in efforts to revive a former ferry town. However, Stranraer was recently successful in being designated as the region's "oyster town" by Dumfries and Galloway Council. It is hoped that can mark a "moment of real momentum" for a place that has spent more than a decade taking steps to recover from the closure of its ferry port which moved a few miles up the coast. But the new designation celebrating its native oyster beds - which it is hoped will be nationally recognised - is just one strand of what it is hoped can be a much wider regeneration plan. For most of its recent history, Stranraer was best known as a ferry town with crossings to Northern Ireland. However, that ended in 2011 when Stena Line moved its operations up the coast to Cairnryan. Out of that setback, came a "bold community response" with the launch of the Stranraer Oyster Festival in 2017 - a celebration of Scotland's last wild native oyster fishery in Loch Ryan. Gaining recognition on the back of that is seen as part of one of the country's "most compelling small town success stories". A new water sports hub on the waterfront is on the way, r