How the Scottish Highland town once voted worst place to visit is seeing 'a revival'

It is one of Scotland’s most dramatic towns in terms of its history and location.

But while Fort William, with its links to the Jacobite uprisings and spectacular views of Ben Nevis, earned the title as the country’s “outdoor capital”, challenging access to the stunning west coast location has given it a chequered reputation when it comes to somewhere to visit and live.

Transport issues and housing shortages remain a thorn in the town’s side. Long delays to upgrade the 60-year-old Belford Hospital - an idea first suggested in the 1990s - forced hundreds to take to the streets last year to protest against government neglect.

Fort William, one of the bigger towns in the Highland region | Katharine Hay

And yet despite being surrounded by sea and mountains, “the Fort”, as it is sometimes affectionately called, was voted the worst place in Scotland to visit last year.

However, the mood appears to be shifting. At a time when high streets across the country are facing gradual demise, businesses have said the talked-down town is seeing a new buzz about it, with some going as far describing it as “a revival”.

The past decade has seen an increase in new, independent shops and hospitality pop up, including the Highland Soap Company, which has a turnover of about £6.8m and employs some 80 people.

The old police station has been turned into the four-star boutique Garrison Hotel, where visitors can spend the night in a former police cell. And while the town’s Crannog Seafood Restaurant down on the pier, said to be a favourite of Gordon Ramsay, has been forced to close on and off due to storm damage over the years, new independent restaurants have taken up the opportunity to fill a hole in the town’s culinary scene.

Highland Cinema, in Fort William, has been designed to look like a croft house and has a wood burning stove. | Katharine Hay

But a major player in the rejuvenation of the town in the past few years has been the Highland Cinema, gifted by Liberal Democrat MP for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire Angus MacDonald in 2021.

Angus MacDonald | Angus MacDonald

Three years after it opened, the independent film house was voted the best cinema in Britain in the UK Big Screen Awards in 2023.

The same man, who had previously been a councillor for the region after a long career in business, also opened the high street’s independent Highland Bookshop in 2017.

Speaking to The Scotsman, Mr MacDonald, who took up his seat in July last year, said: “What matters most to me is the people and economy of the Highlands, and how can we make this area thrive.

”I read an article in Vanity Fair a few years ago, which said the best way to bring the heart back into your town is an independent cinema and an independent bookshop.

“The bookshop has been a phenomenal success. And there is no doubt that the cinema will be one of the greatest things I have done in my life.”

The politician said while the bookshop had been more of a commercial venture, the cinema was to “make people proud to be here”.

“It’s somewhere you can take your mother, it’s somewhere you can boast to visitors about,” he said. “I really wanted it to be much more than a cinema and to become the centre of the community to pull people in.”

One business with a community focus that opened last month is Caledonian Wool Company, which specialises in Scottish wool.

The Caledonian Wool Company in Fort William has just opened | Katharine Hay

Owner Jennifer Ann Mackenzie had been building her business for about five years until she felt the opportunity had come to expand to her own store in the town.

“The tourists who come in the summer love the Scottish wool, and in the winter months, locals come and hang out when we have craft night once a week,” she said.

“I moved here a few years ago and I honestly wouldn’t leave, I love it.”

Peanut, who entertains guests in Caledonian Wool Company in Fort William | Katharine Hay

Ms Mackenzie’s miniature poodle-cross, Peanut, “entertains the partners who don’t knit” in the shop.

Mr MacDonald’s brother, Ian Peter, who is chairman of the West Highland Museum and who set up the recently developed Glen Spean Farmers Market, said: “There is definitely a new enthusiasm about the place.

Ian Peter MacDonald, chairman of the West Highland Museum | Katharine Hay

“I think in previous years there’s been more a just ‘let things be’ attitude. But at the moment, there’s a real energy. Fort William is going through a revival.”

Thanks to a recent private donation, the town’s museum is set to double in size with the acquisition of a new building. The trust behind the visitor attraction said numbers had soared in the past ten years from about 9,000 to more than 55,000 today.

With its breath-taking views, Fort William’s population swells in the summer months, with outdoor enthusiasts flocking to the surrounding hills.

This can be one of the drawbacks for the town, with residents and the Lochaber Chamber of Commerce last summer saying traffic congestion had reached “crisis point”.

Having been a tourist town for the past century, the place is also no stranger when it comes to Scotland’s second home or short-term let market infringing on housing stock.

A landmark development, however, saw 82 new homes built at Upper Achintore in Fort William in November in what was hailed as a “truly transformative” for the town.

Some business owners were also quick to say the problems with tourism were not unique to Fort William, but rather a nationwide conversation when it comes to visitors in honeypot locations.

Rosie and Sally who work at the Highland Bookshop | Katharine Hay

At the bookshop, Rosie George, a local bookseller, said tourism in the town, which is increasing year on year, “creates a good buzz about the place”.

Her colleague, Sally Hughes, added: “The number of customers here has absolutely grown each year. We had our busiest summer last year and normally people say there’s a lull between summer and Christmas, but we didn’t have that last year.”

Further down the high street Mandy Cameron, who has lived in Fort William her whole life, runs the Buzz Project, a drop-in youth support service for young people aged between 14 to 25.

She said there had been a noticeable shift in opportunities for the younger generation on top of what the project provides, which includes music tuition and putting on social events.

Ms Cameron said: “There was a point where there was nothing about and people were feeling a bit disheartened about that. But now a lot more places have opened up, which is magic. It gives the town and the people more opportunities.”

On why the town was voted the worst place to visit in Scotland in a survey led by consumer company Which?, Mr MacDonald said one of the great disadvantages of Fort William was the A82 bypass diverting visitors away from the town centre.

“Many people don’t get to appreciate the town centre because of the bypass,” he said. “But the people who do make it in realise that it’s got a lot to it, that Fort William has good bones.”