Can you call time on an age old Inverness pub argument?
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Well which pub is the oldest in Inverness?
It is an argument that has been around for decades.
For several years the main contender was The Gellions on Bridge Street, which weighed in with 1841 being its "birth" date, which makes it 182 years old.
And today it makes its claim on social media and in signs inside - which is always good for tourist trade.
It originally was Gellion's Hotel which was accessed off Church Street, and is now home to part of The Gellions "down the close" known as the Back Bar or Monty's Bar after a long serving barman who still pops in these days.
The Gellions came later in a newer building, fronting Bridge Street.
Manageress Kelly Franks said: "A local historian, the late Hector MacDonald did much research on the Gellions and he came up with the date.
"We still have the documents in what we call 'the Hector files', and it all appears pretty conclusive."
Gellions owner Gavin Stevenson however has been trying to prove that his pub is even more historic than 1841 after they found a number of historical documents.
He said: “A document indicates it was trading a couple of decades before 1841.”
But just around the corner came a new contender for the oldest bar title – Lauders Bar, previously called The Criterion or "Crit" which was a haunt of the "great and the good" back in the day.
After refurbishment six years ago manager Peter Carroll said the age of the bar was researched and there is a map of the city centre that showed that it could date all the way back to 1774, making it the oldest by 67 years, although its Facebook page states "Established 1852."
The Market Bar off Church Street, or Newmarket Inn as it once was known, was built in 1891 to replace the old Market Inn in the city centre, and is seen as an ancient contender.
Local lore says that after the Battle of Culloden (1746) government Redcoats used rooms upstairs for drinking and meeting women.
The iconic Phoenix Bar on Academy Street apparently was established in 1894, but it certainly must be the oldest bar in town that still has many of its original historic and protected features, such as oval island bar with spittoon trough running all round it!
Veteran licensee George MacLean, who had the Phoenix twice said: "There has always been a bit of debate about which is the oldest bar as the licensing archives only start around 1852. It's a good talking point, though I think the Gellions has a good claim."
He added that a possible contender was the Clachnaharry Inn, which he also owned for a time. He said however that the 17th century coaching inn might not qualify because at the time of its establishment it was outwith the Inverness town boundary.
Another local licensee Don Lawson of Johnny Foxes and Jimmy Badgers said: "I personally think the Gellions is the oldest. Maybe Lauders were just winding them up?"
It looks as if no one can "call time" on this debate just yet.
The Highland Archive Centre in Inverness said: "There is no definitive answer to this one though it seems to be between the Gellions and Lauders."
