Eastgate ( Of Old )

[Kingsmills]

Wasn't Eastgate a much more interesting place 30 or more years ago before the ubiquitous shopping mall arrived ?

I seem to remember it bustling especially during market days with both the Plough and the Hayloft being veritable havens of underage drinking.

What other memories are there of old Eastgate ?

[maimie]

loads but i don't have them! my friend's dad was in the Albert at one time and she has memories of being brought up there. she's also been trying to gather photos of what it was like at that time too

[Guest Jock Watt]

[align=center]I mind that almost opposite Stephen's Brae was a blacksmith's shop and you could stand in the doorway and watch the man making horseshoes on his anvil with sparks flying all over the place.

The parents of my second girlfriend owned the greengrocer shop one up from the bottom of Stephen's Brae, next to the tobacconist[/align]

[L_G]

Marios shop. It was a great wee shop. I used to get sent from work to get a carry out for my boss - I was only 16 at the time. lol I occasionally go a share of it though. He was a wee free and wasn't allowed to drink at home so he drank at work instead (always Vodka so that you couldn't smell it)

[gerx13]

The eastgate fish 'n' chip shop (Ronnies?) was the best in town IMO. The Albert was a place I frequented now and again, they had a vodka by the name of 'Polish pure' it had a great kick to it. :mrgreen:

[Kingsmills]

Ronnie's did indeed sell the best and most reasonably priced chip suppers in town.

[f*ballers wife]

oh my!!!

tobacconist.... now THERE's a word from the past... wow!

my dad used to smoke condor in his pipe. still smell it now and then when he 'visits' from behond! :) :) :)

[A96]

And then there was First, Second, Third and Fourth Streets - continued barely unchanged for a couple of centuries or so (in fact the Inverness town scenes in the 1964 Peter Watkins documentary film of the Battle of Culloden were shot in these ancient streets). I have fond memories of getting a 'doing' by some Ferry boys in one of these scary dark alleys some time back in the early '70's. :019:

And the Eastgate Chipper. Has there ever been - or will there ever be - any other chip shop approaching anywhere near such high standards of excellence when it comes to fried food? :020:

[sandykent]

From the fifties I recall The Washington Soda Fountain, Fraser & McColl ironmongers shop, and the Boys Brigade Drill Hall (now the entrance to M & S)

[Charles Bannerman]

I went along Eastgate 2-4 times a day on foot/ bike/ moped for six years en route from Dalneigh to the Royal Academy. Does anyone remember Oddjob at lunch time going down Stephen's Brae via Greenwald's the Bookie's to one of the pubs on Eastgate and then staggering back up the hill at 2pm?

The BB HQ on Hamilton Street, just along from Gilbert Ross's ironmonger's, was called Washington Court. Does anyone else remember being put into line there for Church Parades by Scoobies.... back in the days when Gordy Bus and John Beaton were a young and aspiring officers.

Maybe the Ferry Boys who gave A96 the doing were from the 4th Company.

Chippers.... you need go no further than the excellent fare cooked up by Caley D's brother at Mike Guibarelli's in Hilton. Difficult also to beat prices like 50p for a bag ofc hips and £2.50 for a chicken supper. The chipper which used to be on Academy Street many years ago, opposite the Phoenix, was pretty good at the time too.

I remember a boy in my class got a place as an extra in the Culloden film. It was probably ahead of its time for blood, guts and brutality.

[A96]

That Peter Watkins film of Culloden was a classic. I have it on video and watch it from time to time. It might have been made on a budget but despite that it excelled in terms of detail and authenticity. And the Highlanders were acted out by genuine Highlanders, many of whom were Inverness lads. The Highlanders looked even scarier than the Ferry Boys who gave me that infamous ‘doing’.

Fraser & MacCall. What a class act. If they didn’t have it, it wasn’t worth having. Good old brown paper wrapping for your wire nails (with string of course) by assistants in genuine Ronnie Barker style light brown overalls.

[Charles Bannerman]

Forkhandles!

There was a similar "period" ambience in the other ironmongers in town, Gilbert Ross on Hamilton Street and was it Mitchell and Craig on Academy Street between Station Square and the La Scala? Nails bought by the pound and weedkiller by the scoop. I suppose the closest there is to that these days is Farm and Household.

Frankie Jew of course was also a devotee of the brown overall.

[A96]

There was another even older hardware store on Castle Street - where the Castle Restaurant now is (long before my time and yours). The shop was owned by my grand-uncle and the shop itself carried his name. I was named after him. So if you can find out the name of that store, Charles, you will know what my real name is.

Other Eastgate landmarks - Alexanders the newsagent (with a gold coloured statue of what looked like a Greek godess at the front). Marios - where you could buy a superb salad roll. But most fascinating of all were the auction marts - Hamiltons and MacDonald Frasers. Eastgate (and the rest of Inverness) would be faced with a mass invasion of tackety-booted farmers hitting town on their regular Tuesday visit.

[Caley Mad In Berks]

The chip shop on Academy St., (mentioned a few posts ago by CB), was owned I think by a family named Pagliari. They were I think one of the first Italian families to settle in Inverness. I remember them for having the first personalised number plate I ever saw, EVA 11. I wonder if that number plate is still around.

[Kingsmills]

Did they not also have a scond very similar personalised plate ?

[Charles Bannerman]

CMIB... I do believe you are right. Do you also remember the little blue Pagliari's ice cream van that used to go all over town, summoning customers with the Harry Lime theme? **** good ice cream it was too, like so many of the Italians. That's the trouble since the Tally Cafes steadily closed down in Inverness - you can't get a decent ice cream anywhere. As far as I remember, the only decent non Italian ice cream you could get was from Stratton in Church Street.

EVA 11 is, I think, still running about Inverness, presumably originally the property of one Eva Pagliari.

So how many Italian food retail families did we used to have? Pagliaris, Serafinis, Salvadoris, Coffrinis (Ness Cafe), Bernardis... any more? I'm sure there are. Were there Capaldis in Inverness?

[caley100]

There were 2 Dorando's shops, Run by Bianco and Henry Turriani, Bianco ran the excellent sweet shop at the market entrance from Church street, and Henry ran the cafe opposite the Phoenix.

I used to pal about with Bianco's son, and if we were lucky we would get a wee sample of the wonderful selection of sweets.

Renato, Henry's son is an ex jeggie stalwart, used to do the catering at Kingsmills,Telford street, and for a while at the Caledonian stadium.

[Caley Mad In Berks]

In the late 50s,one of the Italian families (can't remember which one) had a house built up near Culduthel. He called it 'Over and Above' , not, so the story goes because of its imposing position on a hilltop, but because every time he had a meeting with the builder during the house's construction, the price always increased with the builder saying "over and above, we've had to do this extra work" etc. True story!

[Charles Bannerman]

I'd forgotten about Dorandos and the Turrianis. So who ran the other cafe in Academy Street.... was it The Locarno which ran right through to a back door in the Market? I think it eventually became as sports shop but can't remember what's there now.

[caley100]

The Serafini's ran the Locarno, where i learnt to smoke.. " 5 park drive, book of matches, tea and a pie missus" - lovely jubbly.

The house on Culduthel road belonged to Mario Bernardi, overlooking the town at the start of Godsmans walk, his son Peter still live there i think.

The brother of Mario ran a hairdressers in Academy street, cant remember the name of it, just past the market entrance, where the school uniform shop is now.

[caley100]

Eva still has the EVA11 reg, she was married to local heart throb( so the wife tells me) Drew Ross the singer who along with David Balfe started the group Sunshine, who had a number of hits and starred on Top of the Pops on a number of occasions.

[Kingsmills]

here was a fabulous mural on the wall of the Locarno cafe which to my then very young eyes seemed to depict a boy strangling a goose.

Great ice cream sodas though.

The Italian immigrants and their descendants had quite an Influence on Inverness eateries.

[Caley Mad In Berks]

C100 The house 'Over and Above' I referred to in a previous post is not the one you mentionned near the top of Godsman's Brae belonging to Mario. This one is at least a couple of miles further out near the new Academy.

[Charles Bannerman]

Although not food, there was (is?) also Fornari's hairstylists on Academy Street, opposite Bar Pivo (Inverness Royal Academy in a previous existence). NB - I was a Diggar's man myself!

David Balfe, of course, wrote the ICT song "Bring It On Home". I remember sitting beside him at a Suporters' Club Dinner in, I think, 1997 where I was guest speaker.

[DJS]

Some marvellous memories here but lets not forget the cordon bleu delights of the Morrisons greasy spoon in the market arcade.