We all have sounds that we associate with certain events in our lives – but we can bet bagpipes and fish aren’t an immediate one.
However, Alasdair Allen plays his bagpipes on the banks of Loch Ness to let his customers know that his fish van has arrived.
Scottish Field spoke to the man who has been bringing fish to his customers in an unusual way.
When did you start selling fish?
I just fancied a complete change of career. I’d worked as a fisherman in Kylesku as a teenager before I joined the army. As a soldier, I specialised
in anti-terrorism photography, and I went on to work as a newspaper photographer. I ended up as the picture editor, taking fewer pictures and doing more admin. I have a real passion for encouraging people to eat Scottish products. I reckoned the only way I could get more people to eat fish was to do it at the coalface and sell it direct to the public.
Where do you take your fish van?
On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays I’m in Inverness itself, in the city; on Wednesdays I go completely around Loch Ness. I’m the area sales manager for Inverness for JPL Seafood, which is based up at Scrabster. I have two vans based in Inverness. Customers can email or text me with what they want and I can get it ready for them to pick up.
What types of fish do you sell?
We sell seven or eight different kinds of white fish, we smoke our own fish and we have Loch Fyne kippers. We also have crab claws, whole crabs, live crabs, lobsters, langoustines, razor clams, scallops – pretty much anything. And if somebody wants something like red snapper or sea bream, we’ll get that in especially for them.
When did you start playing the bagpipes?
I started playing the pipes when I was seven or eight and I was a piper in the Scots Guards for about six or seven years before I went over to the surveillance side of things. I couldn’t have a bell like an ice-cream van when I was going around Loch Ness so I thought, if I play The Shoals of Herring for thirty seconds, they’ll know it’s the fish van. The people who own the Loch Ness Lodges and the big caravan sites asked me to wear my kilt so they could put up photographs on their websites for the tourists. It’s good for business and it’s good for Highland tourism.
Does playing the pipes attract more customers?
When you’re starting something new you need to stand out – some men have been going round the Highlands for years. I love the pipes, but I know not everyone does and they don’t want to hear you going on for hours. It’s really just a calling card, so they know I’m there. I start playing at around 10am, so I’m not waking people up.
Are you enjoying your change of career?
You get hooked on it. Loch Ness is a busy route so I make between 12 and 18 stops. There are lots of B&Bs and campsites, plus the locals themselves. I don’t want to let the locals down in the winter. I may only get one or two pensioners in each hamlet but these are the people who will tell the tourists. You have to look after your locals. There’s no point in just turning up for two weeks in the summer and then disappearing in the winter. If there’s an eighty-year-old living up the back of Whitebridge and she’s relying on you to turn up with her kippers, you feel you’ve just got to get there. You can’t let her down.
- This feature was originally published in 2014.
WORDS PETER RANSCOMBE IMAGE ANGUS BLACKBURN
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