Former Crieff game dealer, poulterer and fish merchant, John Low, has died in his 93rd year.
His firm, John Low of West High Street, had played an important part in the life of Crieff from its formation in 1879 until its closure in 1990.
It had been founded by John’s grandfather, a butcher, and was originally situated at 18 James Square.
The Low family had come to Crieff in the 1860s. Peter Low, John Low’s great-grandfather, had farmed at Drummondernoch Farm at Monzievaird, just outside Crieff, and was originally from Clunie, near Dunkeld.
His son, John Low the first, trained as a butcher but saw an opportunity to establish a fish and game shop in Crieff in 1879.
James Square
After a spell at James Square, the firm moved to West High Street around 1890. The family also owned an icehouse in Earnbank Road.
John Low died in 1924 and the business was taken over by his sons John and James. John, Low the second ran the business after his brother died in 1931.
Poultry and game were slaughtered, plucked, and prepared on the premises until around 1970.
Passers-by would see great displays of fish and poultry in the shop windows. The business would collect game and poultry from many estates around Perthshire, rabbits, pheasants and grouse and supplied family homes, hotels, and businesses across Strathearn.
Message boys
The business had a number of message boys who would cycle the hills around Crieff delivering fish and poultry on heavy bicycles after school and on Saturdays.
John Low the second retired in the early 1970s and handed the business over to his son John, but helped out in the shop for much longer, especially at Christmas time.
After the death of John Low the second in 1987, the business continued for a further three years but changing shopping habits made it difficult to make a living and the business closed.
Family
John Low, and his late wife, Irene, had two of a family, Christine and Iain.
He had lived in Crieff all his life apart from his two-year spell of National Service in the late 1940s.
John was a long-term member of Crieff Golf Club and had served as a community councillor and special constable.
Conversation