The legacy of Dominic Cummings is clear to see in the town of Barnard Castle – if you have good eyesight – with locally branded eye test posters on sale in shops dotted along the pretty market square. The County Durham town found itself at the heart of the story when Boris Johnson’s senior adviser finally confessed to making a lockdown-busting trip there “to test his eyesight” after suffering from suspected Covid-19 in April. On the high street, locals have grown used to directing tourists to the town’s Specsavers, where they pose for a selfie before heading to the Welcome to Barnard Castle sign (which some say benefited from a spruce up amid the national attention). “I think most people in Barnard Castle are sick of the negative attention,” said Trevor Brookes, editor of the 166-year-old Teesdale Mercury, on Friday following news of Cummings’ resignation. “Most people have grown weary of the negative attention, although there have been reports of more visitors.” Cummings’ lockdown voyages led global news bulletins when they were revealed in May but only merited a small mention on the front of the Teesdale Mercury, beneath a story about an upgrade to the A66. The weekly paper, whose newsroom of five journalists sits above a newsagent in the market square, is owned by the aristocratic Vane family who live in a medieval castle nearby.
“He’s the laugh of the place – he’s a great joke,” said Vivian Guy, 65, a retired nurse, who welcomed Cummings’ resignation – “the sooner the better”. “He got away with it because he’s one of Boris’s cronies.” Not everyone is keen to see the back of the prime minister’s aide. Ian Kirkbride, a town councillor, told the Guardian he had written to Cummings inviting him to switch on the town’s Christmas lights. “I was looking for a celebrity and it occurred to me as a bit of black humour. It didn’t work.” (Cummings has not responded to the invite.) While many have enjoyed seeing “Barney” in the news, the joke is wearing thin. Pauline Connelly, 55, the owner of Connelly’s Toyshop, has lost her father and one of her oldest friends, aged 56, to Covid-19. Her father, who had underlying health conditions, was in a care home so she was unable to see him for 14 weeks before he died.
“My dad was already unwell but the nature of not being able to see him for 14 weeks, whereas before I saw him once or twice a day. We had FaceTime but that’s not the same,” she said, growing close to tears. That, she said, was what made Cummings’ lockdown trips difficult to stomach. “You can’t have one rule for one and one for the others. He didn’t have the guts to go but Boris should’ve got rid of him.” Outside the toy shop, a 76-year-old woman who did not want to give her name said she was cross with Cummings for the lockdown trips and for getting away with not paying council tax on a family property in Durham. But, she said, it would not stop her from voting for the Conservatives: “It wouldn’t make a bugger of difference.”
At Artisan Corner, a Barnard Castle eye test hangs on the wall alongside craft beers, sourdough bread and posh chutney. The owner, Robert Dunbar, 62, said he was happy to oblige the influx of tourists and hoped that they would return long after Cummings had left Downing Street. “He shouldn’t have come in the first place – no man in his right mind throws his kids in the car when his eyes aren’t right – but it has been good for the town,” he said. “We do pander to it a bit and we’re not too proud to turn those people away, no matter which way you lean.” Alan Gowland, 62, a Conservative-voting former GlaxoSmithKline engineer who spoke publicly after spotting Cummings in nearby woods, said on Friday: “He shouldn’t have been in Barnard Castle. Should he have gone earlier? He’s a very clever man. He’s the brains behind Boris. If he’s packing it in, where do the Tories go from here?” That is the big question.