BM I am virtually certain that the Serafinis had the West End Chip Shop opposite the Tarry Ile.
I've been trying to pair Inverness-Italian families with their establishments with only partial success. Can anyone help?
Serafinis - West End chipper.
Salvadoris - Greig St cafe.
Coffrinis - Ness Cafe.
Pagliaris - wee blue ice cream van with the Harry Lime tune.
????? - Locarno
Bernardis - shop at the bottom of Stephen's Brae.
Turrianis - ??????
????? - Rendezvous.
Guibarellis - Bught then the Hilton chippie.
Also, was the Locarno the one on Adacemy St that opened through into the market as well or was it the one up nearer the Phoenix? In that case, what was the "other" one? And who owned the Academy St chipper? Were the local branch of the Rizzas also active in the business in Inverness?
As far as I am aware, the only Italian family still in the food retailing business is the Guibarellis at Hilton because after Mike died last year the son took it over.
What a loss all these establishments are to Inverness culture and what a huge part they played in the middle years of the 20th century.
When I was in the Scottish Football Museum at Hampden a few years ago I came across an audio interview of I THINK Scotty Bernardi describing playing football whilst in internment on the Isle of Man during WW2. In 1940 Churchill simply said "collar the lot" and every single British resident of Italian and German extraction was interned on the spot, including, one supposes much of the Inverness Italian community who had been here for years.
Forgot this lot:
The Bannermanis - various supermarket caffs, e.g. Lipton's, Coop (Montague Row), Presto's, Safeway (Academy Street--sadly missed).
When ye think about it, the Italians introduced a whole lot of junk food to town--wonder what the Sneckites did for quick foods before that?