Down Memory Lane: New version of Bridge Street will be much-anticipated
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Bill McAllister on the past – and possible future – of one of the least-loved parts of the Inverness city centre
Remains of the medieval defensive outer ring of what was called Royal Castlehill lie below the ‘concrete carbuncle’ south side of Bridge Street along with rubble from old closes up to 600 years old.
A potential archaeological treasure trove lies in wait if and when Upper Bridge Street, and possibly part or much of Lower Bridge Street is demolished in the coming years.
Travel writer Bill Bryson called Bridge Street ‘sensationally ugly’ – but when the old street was demolished in the early 1960s, it was a popular move because many of the properties were dilapidated, overcrowded and had poor sanitation. The street also required to be widened because the A9 ran right along it and the old sandstone arched bridge was increasingly inadequate for the traffic, requiring a new crossing and wider Bridge Street.
If it had been suggested then that there would be a Friars Shott crossing and a Kessock Bridge creating a new A9 route, then the concretisation of Bridge Street might not have happened. Hindsight is 20/20 vision. At the time, many saw the development as bringing much-needed modernisation to a growing burgh.
The frontage which vanished from Bridge Street included mainly 18th century or early 19th century buildings, between which pends – or lanes – led to older properties, including the Albion Hotel and Watt’s Hotel, the latter a temperance premises. The earliest houses had gardens at the back, but these were built upon. Demolition works in 1962 uncovered a lintel at number 5, for instance, dated 1666, while a building backing on to Castle Steps carried the date 1756.
The handsome Workmen’s Club, with classical columns and arcaded windows, built by local architect John Rhind, would have been 150 years old this year, had it not fallen to the bulldozers.
Alexander Ross’s burgh museum and library in last week’s column were also flattened. At the junction with Castle Road, facing the river, blocks of buildings known as Castle Tolmie – which had replaced buildings of the same name demolished in 1900 – were torn down. Across the road, Queen Mary’s House was torn down in 1968, its vaults are now The Den nightclub.
Bridge Street had actually been widened in 1817, but what was suitable for horse and cart was increasingly unsuitable. Inverness Town Council published a development plan for the area in 1959, and a public inquiry was held before the plan received the green light in 1962.
Upper Bridge Street was seen as taking foot traffic above the busy road and providing new civic space. New housing estates were springing up on the burgh’s flanks and modern architecture was seen as reflecting the way ahead for the town centre.
What turned many people against the development was the alleged whiff of corruption. Decisions taken in private caused annoyance, though many of these were due to commercial confidentiality, not allowing rival bidders to know what each was offering. Councillors staged walkouts on two occasions in 1961, with much dark muttering about bias in favour of a particular bidder.
Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck was the chairman of the Murrayfield Real Estate Company, the Edinburgh developer which was given the contract for the £250,000 project at yet another closed-doors council meeting. Worse, the council announced the award at a press conference to which the local papers were not invited – a classic own goal.
The council was actually showing commendable vision with a 20-year revamp to make central Inverness fit for 20th century purpose – the new Ness Bridge, widening of upper Academy Street and the Eastgate Centre mall would follow.
But the first phase, Bridge Street, had courted controversy and there was more criticism when Murrayfield’s high rents meant new shops were slow to be leased. Remember Presto there, our first town centre supermarket?
In 2018, Highland Council announced the acquisition of the south side of Bridge Street to support the conversion of Inverness Castle into a major visitor gateway and ‘must-see’ attraction.
The council stated it would take up to 10 years to conjure up a new version.
Will Bridge Street be levelled again? We wait and see.
Sponsored by Ness Castle Lodges.
