Thurso: the town travellers kept passing through

Thurso is a useful place to pause on the North Coast 500, whether you need fuel, something to eat or a bed before continuing west or catching the ferry from Scrabster. With the rest of the journey beckoning, it is easy to make the stop a short one, although the town has been trying to persuade travellers to stay a little longer for well over a century. The roads, transport and reasons for coming have changed considerably, but the difficulty of turning an arrival into a visit has proved remarkably persistent.

In the nineteenth century, looking after visitors could mean keeping the principal streets clean while leaving the Fisher Biggings and poorer lanes behind them filthy and badly drained. The respectable appearance presented to a stranger did not necessarily extend to the people living around the corner. Nevertheless, the arrival of the railway in 1874 offered Thurso an opportunity to improve more than its frontage, bringing travellers north in greater comfort than the through mail coach it replaced. A new Station Hotel and improvements to the promenades, riverside and walks helped give those arrivals somewhere to stay and something to enjoy once they had recovered from the journey.

By 1898, civic leaders acknowledged that Thurso was “down on its luck” and hoped visitors would help restore its fortunes. There was plenty to recommend, from sea bathing and bracing air to golf, bowls and tennis, with summer evenings light enough to sit outdoors reading a book. Calling it the “Brighton of the North” was ambitious, although the guidebook intended to promote these pleasures rather undermined the effort by burying them among advertisements for millinery, trinkets and scones. The motor car subsequently made Thurso easier to reach, encouraging hotels to expand and garages to open, but it also made leaving much easier. Despite all that effort, a guidebook could still tell its readers in 1953 that “the town will not long detain the visitor.”

Dounreay brought people who needed considerably more than an overnight stay, and in 1954 the local cinema was already planning an extension for the expected “atom population.” The newcomers required homes, shops, services and entertainment, helping transform the fishing and agricultural town into the regional centre familiar to travellers today. As nuclear employment later contracted, tourism returned to the discussion, with surfing and other water sports offering fresh possibilities for a town whose coastline had long been among its attractions. The North Coast 500 has since brought another stream of arrivals, giving Thurso an opportunity it would recognise from its railway days. People are reaching the town in considerable numbers, and the task is still to give them a reason to put off the next part of their journey.

To learn more, listen to the blogpost or book one of our North Coast Explorer private tours.