Robin Munro

Robin Munro, 66, is a charming, local resident who provides me with a wealth of insight into the changes that Inverness has seen over several decades.

"I moved to Inverness 20 years ago from Buckie which is along the coast but I was born on the Black Isle which is just on the other side of the bridge. I used to work in the building just over the bridge. I don't think people would want to know what I worked as because I was the tax man! I studied history at university so I'm interested in history to a degree. I think that history is where we come from and that's very important.

When I was a very small boy, back in the late 1940s, we lived in Inverness for a short period. In the 40s, it was much, much smaller. The thing is, over the years, Inverness has doubled and re-doubled in size. There are pros and cons to the expansion of the city. It has got much more in the way of facilities than it used to have with the shopping centres and so on.

There's also a lot more restaurants. There's a good array of restaurants so Zizzi will be in good company! This particular restaurant is on the site of an old, old house called 'Queen Mary's House' which they decided to knock down in the 1960s along with other buildings on this corner. Inverness does have enough history but not enough of the historic buildings left which reflect that.

I've more or less raised my family in Inverness. My son would have been about 7 or 8 when he came here and my daughter was just a few months old. My daughter regards herself very much as an Invernesian. It's a beautiful place to raise a family. It's close to wondeful scenery. 2 or 3 minutes away and you can see everything. The river's wondeful, I like that. It's a pleasant walk to the islands down the river. You can cross from one side of the river to walk down and come back on the other side. Really beautiful. Inverness was the place that I thought I'd be retiring in and I'm happy to be retired here. It's probably the best place I've lived.

As a very small child, I remember being taken by a neighbour who had the leasing of the salmon fishing on the River Ness. He had two boats and men working with him. We rode out onto the river with our nets. We made a loop and pulled back in the net with the salmon. That's quite a pleasant memory of Inverness that I have from being a small boy. That would have happened not very far from where we are now in Zizzi. Salmon fishing doesn't exist here anymore as an industry but there is still salmon fishing on the river today. You can see a great stretch of the river here from the restaurant. I like that you're able to watch the chefs at work too. That gives you extra confidence in your food!"