Bridge House Art Gallery in St. George?s has closed its doors after 30 years because of dwindling numbers of customers and tourists.

Artist Jill Amos Raine and her author husband David F. Raine said that it was with a heavy heart that they decided to close the gallery, which has sold works from more than 100 local artists over the years.

?We wanted to keep it as a family business exclusive to local artists,? said Mrs. Raine. ?Our boys grew up here ? I had a cot in the back.?

But the couple said that times were so hard in St. George?s for shopkeepers that they could not afford to keep the gallery open.

And they said if they had kept it open over this winter, they would have had four months out of 16 that were profitable.

?First we had Club Med close, then the bases and then Castle Harbour,? said Mr. Raine. ?Then there was September 11, and then came September 5 (Hurricane Fabian). It was just one thing after another.?

Mr. Raine said that the number of tourists and locals shopping in general in St. George?s had been falling steadily, and it had reached such a critical point that stores could no longer afford to stay open.

And his wife, who will keep on her store in the square which sells mainly her own watercolours, said that they had kept the gallery open through difficult times before, but could not afford to keep it open another season.

Mrs. Raine was working as a teacher when she had her first child, and had been working in enamel and making her own jewellery from home when she noticed an advert in the paper.

In it a group of local artists including Alfred Birdsey and Desmond Fountain were looking for a volunteer curator for a gallery they were opening up.

?In other words they didn?t want to pay anyone,? she said, laughing. She agreed to do the job on condition she could set up a stall of her jewellery ? which sold very well, in fact better than many of the other artworks for sale.

After that she took on the business by herself, with her husband helping, and started off by selling only local artists.

Mrs. Raine said: ?At the time no one was doing it, and people thought we were mad. There really wasn?t much local art and to set it up in St. George?s ... well they thought we were out of our mind.?

But she proved her critics wrong and the gallery, located on the first floor of a beautiful 17th century mansion behind the square owned by the National Trust, thrived.

?We were truly pioneers of our time,? said Mr. Raine. ?We carried the work of over 100 artists and set a standard of quality on what we would exhibit. Basically we planned not to turn down but rather encourage local artists.?

While running the gallery, Mrs. Raine turned her hand to watercolours, which she sold on site, and the gallery expanded to include antiques and antique prints related to Bermuda.

?It was about 15 years ago that things started to slow with the closure of Club Med,? said Mr. Raine. ?The number of people shopping in St. George?s has steadily declined since then.

?There in nobody here (in St. George?s). Locals all obviously go to Hamilton to Triminghams and Smith?s. This Christmas it was deserted with the huge sales on in town. As an evolving business we have targeted both locals and visitors and cultivated both markets, but it has not been enough.?

The gallery is now closed, but Mr. and Mrs. Raine are still selling off stock and fixtures and fittings and Mrs. Raine plans a house sale of more items when the weather gets better.

?It is very sad to close up,? said Mrs. Raine. ?But what can we do??