By 2017 Dunbar High Street had a neglected appearance. Many buildings had painted facades which had fallen into disrepair. Most High Street tenements were multiple occupancy rental properties and the owners were often difficult to locate and even then were reluctant to spend money on the cosmetic appearance of the buildings. Graham Adams, Deputy Chair of Dunbar Community Council took the initiative along with a small team of volunteers to repaint all building facades in the High Street and West Port. An initial grant of £10,000 to cover paint and equipment hire costs was awarded by The Dunbar and East Linton Area Partnership. This was supplemented by a “Just Giving” fundraising appeal and other generous donations from sponsors.
During the course of 2018, Graham and his team repainted all facades and refreshed the appearance of the whole town. This was a remarkable achievement and was duly acknowledged by a very well deserved award of a bound copy showing before and after photographs of the buildings at a Community Council Reception in December 2018.