A notice board, updated in 2023, suggests an Old Ship Inn has been on this site in the Skinnergate since Medieval times. The present building is described by Gifford as late-Victorian. The Inn was close to the Old Mercat Cross where presumably there were lots of customers on market days. The building also displays a series of boards showing mock newspaper headlines relating to events occurring within the life-time of the public house.
Opened in 1890 when Perth was a busy railway hub for Scotland, the Station Hotel just opposite the station entrance was designed by Andrew Heiton. It is now the Radisson Blue Hotel. On its wall it bears the Coat of Arms of Perth.
A large destination board dating from 1855, showing “Perth” as you enter the station from the north.
William Downie’s 2006 retiral plaque is on platform 5. He is described as being the last of the “time served locking fitters” showing how the skills needed by railway employees had changed.
Perth Station even has a Secret Garden located to the left of the main entrance, on platform 2 and 3/4(!). It is run by the volunteers of Perth Station Garden Club – see their Facebook page.
Located on platform 5 just outside the ticket barrier. The memorial records those employees of the Perth General Station Joint Staff who perished in World War 1.
Large ornate clocks are prominent on platforms 4 and 5. These are the original clocks made by J.A. Ritchie of Edinburgh who was also responsible for the floral clock in Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh.
The railway bridge over King’s Place is dated 1849 which is also the date of first wooden bridge over the Tay allowing the completion of the line to Dundee. The railway bridges over King Street and Princes Street have explanatory information boards on the street underneath.
Pullar House at numbers 35-49 Kinnoull Street and occupying much of Mill Street as well, contains the offices of Perth and Kinross Council. Before conversion in 1999/2000 this building was Pullars of Perth, an extensive dyeworks owned by the Pullar family. A plaque commemorating the Jubilee in 1898 of the service of Sir Robert Pullar, son of the founder of the business. The business was founded in Burt Close in 1824. A second plaque records those employees who lost their lives in the two wars. This is another example of businesses recording the names of fallen colleagues as also did…
House number 13 in the Watergate was once the Burns Tavern but was converted in 1902 to become the Perth Night Shelter for Females by a charitable foundation set up around 1892. The Pullar family put up funding for this night shelter which provided shelter and a simple evening meal and breakfast for destitute women. Whilst at the shelter, its residents were preached to by a reader from the City Mission. By 1918 it became a paid-for lodging house and was finally wound up in 1952.