Edinburgh Retro: 21 fascinating photos of people at work in the mid-1980s - from directory enquiries to trucks at Bathgate

Published 8th Feb 2025, 04:45 GMT

From testing TVs at Mitsubishi in Haddington and answering directory enquiries in Edinburgh to shipbuilding in Leith or making trucks at Bathgate, many of the jobs which people were doing every day in the mid-1980s just don’t exist any more.

Here are some fascinating pictures selected from the Evening News archives, showing people at work in and around Edinburgh 40 years ago.

Scroll through the old photos and get a nostalgic reminder of what working life in the Capital was like four decades ago.

A woman tests and adjusts the colour alignment on television sets at Mitsubishi electronics factory in Haddington, May 1984.

1. Testing TV sets, Mitsubishi

A woman tests and adjusts the colour alignment on television sets at Mitsubishi electronics factory in Haddington, May 1984. | TSPL Photo: Hamish Campbell

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher arrives at the WL Gore & Associates factory (manufacturers of Gore-Tex) in Livingston in September 1984. Mrs Thatcher is seen speaking to factory worker Akin Akiniawi.

2. .PM visits Gore-Tex factory, Livingston

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher arrives at the WL Gore & Associates factory (manufacturers of Gore-Tex) in Livingston in September 1984. Mrs Thatcher is seen speaking to factory worker Akin Akiniawi. | TSPL Photo: Ian Porteous

Employees at Henry Robb shipyard, Leith, working on a hull of a submarine in the yard's huge preparation shop, January 1984

3. Henry Robb shipyard, Leith

Employees at Henry Robb shipyard, Leith, working on a hull of a submarine in the yard's huge preparation shop, January 1984 | TSPL Photo: Alan Ledgerwood

A crew member working in the engine room of the Pharos lighthouse vessel in the Firth of Forth, October 1984.

4. Aboard lighthouse vessel

A crew member working in the engine room of the Pharos lighthouse vessel in the Firth of Forth, October 1984. | TSPL Photo: Crauford Tait

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