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 BST

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.

Assembling the chassis of video recorders at the Mitsubishi electronics factory in Livingston, May 1984.

1. Assembling video recorders

Assembling the chassis of video recorders at the Mitsubishi electronics factory in Livingston, May 1984. | TSPL Photo: Hamish Campbell

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

2. 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

Peter Meldrum stamps a hallmark onto a silver dish at the Edinburgh Assay Office in October 1986.

3. Edinburgh Assay Office

Peter Meldrum stamps a hallmark onto a silver dish at the Edinburgh Assay Office in October 1986. | TSPL Photo: Bill Stout

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.

4. .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

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