The Port Street Works Showroom

The back of the Port Street Showroom in 1908

The back of the Port Street Works Showroom in 1908

“During the 1850s, when Scotland was not so well-known as now to the dwellers in England and Ireland, William Kinross received orders from the Duchess of Bedford, the Earl of Derby, the Marquis of Londonderry and Viscount Shannon and others, including many Scottish settlers abroad, all showing that the character of the work was fully maintained.

In 1857, a Scottish gentleman, Mr John Ross of Shandwick, Inverness, engaged in business in India, had a phaeton built by the late Henry Kinross to take back with him to Bombay.  This carriage must have been a very attractive one, for it was the beginning of a very extensive business with India.  More orders came than it was possible to execute, and the workshops never looked so gay as when five or six of these carriages were being finished for shipment, in their bright, lively colours, fawn or drab linings, and silver mountings, a great contrast to the dull colours in use now.  For three or four years in succession, nine-tenths of the work done went to India.  There was no such thing as keeping a finished carriage in stock, every one being made to order.”

The firm recognised their customer's desire to buy a completed carriage rather than have one made to order so a long saloon carriage showroom was created in 1890 at their works in Port Street.  This showroom was described as being able to hold its own with anything of the same kind, even in the city of London.”

Taken from an article published in the Stirling Observer on 27th May 1908.

Childhood memories of the long showroom always feature the large black wooden horse, which was used for demonstrating the various types of harness to customers.



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