As the ferry approaches Rothesay harbour, passengers are greeted by signs of Bute’s struggles – and successes. Lined up behind the town’s palm tree-filled Victorian promenade, once-grand derelict hotels and boarded up shops neighbour vibrant, independent businesses.

Older islanders reminisce about Rothesay’s time as a bustling seaside resort town and popular tourist destination in the 1950s. Multiple steamers, they recall, would vie for space at the port to let off the next batch of tens of thousands of summer tourists, who would help to sustain swathes of jobs and businesses.

According to Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) data, nearly one in five people left Bute between 2001 and 2020 – the largest exodus of any island ‘data zone’.

Some are confident that a post-Covid population influx is reversing Bute’s depopulation trend, and say a surge in Bute’s independent food, drink and arts businesses represents a change of fortunes.

Others fear that a lack of affordable housing, well paid jobs and higher education opportunities mean Bute will increasingly struggle to retain – and attract – young people.

For islanders, sustaining populations – and attracting and retaining young and working age people – is not just favourable, but essential. For a community to function, there must be enough people to fill societal roles – as well to provide general support and friendship.

The Scottish Government previously announced a £50,000 grant to attract incomers to islands. However, it was scrapped because islanders felt it did not tackle the root causes of depopulation.

Dr Malcolm Alexander, a retired Rothesay GP and long-term islander, says Rothesay now feels like a “neglected seaside town”. The typical inner health and mental problems he treated as a GP, such as addiction issues, were more akin to an inner city than that of an island, he says.

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