A young woman working at the Viewdata offices in Alva Street Edinburgh, September 1980. Prestel, a British Telecoms online service and precursor of teletext and the internet, used Viewdata to transmit its content.placeholder image
A young woman working at the Viewdata offices in Alva Street Edinburgh, September 1980. Prestel, a British Telecoms online service and precursor of teletext and the internet, used Viewdata to transmit its content. | TSPL

Edinburgh retro: 21 amazing photos of people at work in the early 1980s - from chimney sweep to shipyard worker

By Ian Swanson
Published 28th Mar 2026, 11:04 GMT
Updated 29th Mar 2026, 04:45 GMT

From chimney sweep to chocolate checker and shipyard worker to mole catcher, some of the jobs that kept people busy in Edinburgh in the early 1980s just don’t exist any more.

Here is a selection of fascinating photos chosen from the Evening News archive, showing people at work in factories, shops, foundry, fields, offices and elsewhere in the early 1980s.

Scroll through the pictures and get a feel for what working life in and around the Capital was like four decades ago.

Workers in cabbage field at Jack Dale's farm, East Lothian in February 1980.

9. Cabbage field

Workers in cabbage field at Jack Dale's farm, East Lothian in February 1980. | TSPL Photo: Dick Ewart

Photo Sales
A woman working in the component loading section, assembling circuit boards at the Hewlett-Packard electronics factory in June 1980.

10. Circuit board assembly

A woman working in the component loading section, assembling circuit boards at the Hewlett-Packard electronics factory in June 1980. | TSPL Photo: Denis Straughan

Photo Sales
Chief artist Andrew Love working on some designs at Maddocks and Dick Ltd tie factory in Edinburgh, January 1981.

11. Tie designer

Chief artist Andrew Love working on some designs at Maddocks and Dick Ltd tie factory in Edinburgh, January 1981. | TSPL Photo: George Smith

Photo Sales
Maurice Maguire and Kenny Munro working on sculptures at their M & M Fine Art bronze foundry Loanhead, Midlothian, March 1981.

12. Sculptors

Maurice Maguire and Kenny Munro working on sculptures at their M & M Fine Art bronze foundry Loanhead, Midlothian, March 1981. | TSPL Photo: Alan Macdonald

Photo Sales
Previous
3 / 6
Next Page
Related topics:NostalgiaEdinburgh
News you can trust since 1873
Follow us
© 2026 Iconic Media Group Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice