'Where will I get my steak pies?' The family-run butcher's shop closing after 137 years

For 137 years it has welcomed locals, tourists and one very persistent seagull.

However, an award-winning Ayrshire butcher's shop is now ready for the final cut, after its current owner decided to retire.

James Baillie is the fourth in his family to have helmed T Baillie and Sons in seaside town Saltcoats, but the 65-year-old believes now is the right time to step away and focus on his family.

His three sons have all taken careers in fields away from being a butcher, meaning this weekend marks the end for the shop set up in the same year as the Eiffel Tower was constructed.

"My dad was 65 when he passed the shop to me, and I'm 65 now, so that felt like a wee omen," James told BBC Scotland News, chatting on a Thursday afternoon as trade wound down for the day.

He had started in the shop as a teenager, but the shop was already long-established by that point. His great-grandfather Thomas started the business in 1889 on the town's Green Street, before later moving to Dockhead Street.

When James himself started out, business was booming - both from locals around the Three Towns - Saltcoats, Ardrossan and Stevenston - and via the busy tourist trade that peaked every year with the traditional Glasgow fair summer break.

"It was chaotic back in the day, you'd be queued out the door," he recalls.

"You couldn't see across the street during the summer, when you had tourists coming in. The Glasgow Fair would have people just piling off the trains in the morning and then piling back on at night, and it was great to see."

James started in the shop as a teenager, but had intended to study mathematical sciences.

However, his father, called Thomas like his great grandfather, became ill and he was asked to look after the shop for six months.

"I was just a poor student and I found myself getting a weekly wage. I found myself staying on.

"I was thrown in the deep end a bit, but we had about 12 staff then and I gradually learned as I went along."

He remembers about six butchers being in competition in Saltcoats at that stage. After he retires this weekend, the area will be served by only one.

Despite challenging times for the trade, he is still optimistic about the future of it, sparked by a change in the ages of shoppers over recent years.

"Over the past couple of years there has been a wee trend of younger people in their 20s coming in," he notes.

"You have to try and help them with the cooking instructions, but the fact they're coming into a butcher's is encouraging.

"Ten years ago that wasn't happening and it was firmly middle-aged people and upwards, but people are maybe getting wise to the fact that while supermarkets are convenient, the meat isn't what they want."

Many of his customers were familiar faces, though. James remembers the shop used to give sweeties to children as they waited with their parents for meat - now those children are the adults, bringing their own families in.

Since he announced his plans to retire, he has been taken aback by kind messages and gifts wishing him well, from drinks to Australian dollars he can use on a planned holiday to visit his eldest son, who lives there.

When speaking to BBC Scotland News, a couple of shoppers pop in to warmly wish him well, while in one case, a woman rues where she will buy her steak pies for Christmas and New Year now.

And then there is another regular customer - a hungry seagull who has become well-known to staff there.

"We all call him Steven Seagull," laughs James.

A few years back he started coming to the door every morning, and he gets a few morsels. Then he comes back about 5pm, when the shop closes and gets another few – he won't let any other gull come near here, as this is his patch.

"He won't walk on the marble flooring so he just stands at the front door and wait for morsels. I've no idea what he'll think when I close the doors!"

Aside from disappointing a persistent seagull, James feels now is the right time to go, and he never wanted to put any pressure on his three sons - Martin, Nathan and Adam - to take over the business.

"They all did a bit in here at school when they were growing up, getting pocket money for doing the dishes and things like that.

"But when it came to leaving school they all had designs on their own fields and I would never have told them they must come in and be obliged to work here.

"It's long hours being a butcher and I'd like to spend time with my family. I'm a bit apprehensive, but it's the right thing to do."

His wife of 42 years Pauline will be pleased too. For years she has helped with orders during the shop's busiest time every Christmas.

"Every Christmas she would go through the order book each time, then we would put them all out in alphabetical order the following day.

"She said at Christmas just there that it was so hectic that it was going to be her last Christmas doing this – and it was!"

However, he is optimistic the shop itself might yet carry on as a butcher, albeit without the family tradition.

"Hopefully someone might come along that would be interested in taking on the shop.

"Saltcoats is a busy wee town, and I think there's still a market for a butcher."