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Burnett’s Inverness Bakery Ltd operated in Inverness from 1897. They moved to 44 and 46 Academy Street in 1922, which became a regular venue for Invernessians. It was well-equipped with two bakeries, a dining room, tea room, coffee room and smoke r...

  Dorando’s was well-known for its counter-top covered with newspapers, its ice-cream freezer, the jars of sweets lining the shelves and its open fire in the tea room. “The shop part was at the front at a lower level, then, if I remember cor...

The East Church, known originally as the Chapel of Ease, was built in 1798 to seat 1,100 people. This building was located on the site where the current church hall stands. In 1898, the church was remodelled by a firm of local architects, Ross...

  The Empire Theatre, which originally opened in 1912 as the Central Hall Picture House, began to stage live shows in 1931 following a fire which destroyed the Theatre Royal on Bank Street by the river. Following works to enlarge the stage...

Falcon Square takes its name from the Falcon Iron Works opened there in 1858 by brothers, John and Charles Falconer, to take advantage of the new opportunities for trade generated by the railway. They produced gates, stoves and fire irons. However,...

Now housed in a large modern building on the outskirts of the city, Inverness Royal Academy began its days in the centre of town. A building was constructed on New Street in 1792 and was in use as a school until 1895 when it was relocated to Midmills...

Inverness Railway Station, designed by Joseph Mitchell, opened in 1855 creating a rail link to Nairn serviced by the Inverness and Nairn Railway. The opening  was one of the most significant events in the history of the Highlands as the development ...

The La Scala cinema was opened in December 1913. It was designed by Alexander Ross & Son to originally seat 1000 people. This was changed during refurbishment over the years. The original entrance was on the corner of Academy Street and Strothers...

The Locarno (as it was referred to) was a well-loved confectioner and café at 31 Academy Street.  Many local people have come forward to share memories of buying coffee, sweets and ice-cream there.  It had initially traded as Donati ...

The Lochgorm Locomotive Works were based at Inverness and built in 1864. The workshops consisted of several different buildings and included machine shops, an erecting shop and a roundhouse, which had a massive turntable to allow engines to be quickly...

Macrae & Dick was established in about 1878 as postmasters and to provide horses and horse-drawn vehicles for hire to all Invernessians and visitors. Initially they were located in the Edward Court stables and yard behind the Station Hotel. Macrae...

The building at the rear of 19 Academy Street, off the road and down a lane way to the side of the Victorian Market entrance, was built in the back garden of the street-front property. The building had been in use as a photographic studio for some...

This company began life as the Northern Agricultural Implement Foundry in 1872. It grew with the arrival of the railway and later diversified into marine engineering. By the time of the Great War it was known as the Rose Street Foundry & Engineering...

The Royal Highland Hotel, formerly known as the Station Hotel, was designed by noted architect and engineer, Joseph Mitchell, for the opening of the railway in 1855 and substantially redesigned in 1858-59 by Matthews and Lawrie. It was purchased by...

  The image above shows the Inverness Ragged School’s parade in Station Square sometime prior to 1875. The Ragged Schools were charitable institutions dedicated to the free education of destitute children and, according to one school report f...

The Playhouse was the luxury cinema in Inverness. It opened in 1929 and was one of the first cinemas to be built for sound. The design of the building gave it the look of a theatre, especially as it had box seats on each side of the balcony...

Prior to the Victorian Market being built, open-air markets were held at the Exchange outside the Town House. However, the invention and spread of gas-lighting meant that an indoor market, open longer hours, could improve the shopping experience for...