A 150-year-old antique wedding dress that went missing after a dry cleaners closed has been located. Tess Newall, 29, of Morham, East Lothian, had been distraught after discovering the heirloom, which belonged to her great-great grandmother, was lost following the closure of Kleen Cleaners in St Mary Street, Edinburgh.
Mrs Newall, who married Alfred Newall, 30, in June, posted an update on social media saying the dress was found 'in a crumpled heap' at the closed shop. She told the BBC she was 'absolutely over the moon' and described the last 24 hours as 'surreal'.
The dress was sent for dry cleaning in September, and the shop shut in October. The business is now being dealt with under Scottish bankruptcy law in a process known as sequestration. A post by Mrs Newall about the loss was shared more than 200,000 times.
Mrs Newall said her parents received a call from the landlord of the property, whose nephew had read about the dress. He searched and found a pile of old lace, which he thought was the dress. Her parents went straight there and were overjoyed to find it, still with its ticket and uncleaned.
A representative from sequestrators Wylie & Bisset was also at the shop on Saturday and insisted the dress had to go to their Glasgow office for 'procedural reasons'. Mrs Newall said they assured her it would be delivered safely back on Monday. She plans to have it cleaned by a lace specialist in London, adding, 'Somewhere where we can't let it out of our sight.'
