GEORGE Macdonald, the owner of three convenience stores in the Borders has failed in a bid to purchase an empty retail unit at the Melrose Gait housing estate in Galashiels.

Speculation that the ground-floor unit at Queen Elizabeth Drive had been acquired by Mr Macdonald was fuelled when he applied to Scottish Borders Licensing Board for a licence for the off-sale of alcohol at the premises.

However, he said that his application to this Friday’s board meeting had been withdrawn after selling agents for vendors Persimmon Homes informed him this week that his offer to buy the unit had been unsuccessful.

The agents had set a closing date of last Friday for offers over £40,000.

“If my offer, which I considered very reasonable, had been accepted, I intended opening the unit as a small licensed convenience store in October, so I would have required the licence,” said Mr Macdonald. “Unfortunately, that’s not now going to happen.”

Mr Macdonald, who lives at Newtown St Boswells, currently owns and runs three convenience stores under the Premier banner – at Havelock Street in Hawick, Rosetta Road in Peebles and Caddon Court in Innerleithen.