Scotland retro: 39 nostalgic photos capture the highs and lows of life in 1986

These photos take you back 40 years, capturing life around Scotland as it was in 1986.

They show the highs and the lows of a year in which Madonna and Dire Straits dominated the charts, while Back to the Future and Rocky IV packed out cinemas.

Coal miners are pictured at work, a famous bakery is seen churning out thousands of hot cross buns, and a cheeky circus elephant is shown helping herself at a popular restaurant.

Elsewhere, giddy youngsters enjoy the latest craze, customers browse the shelves of a lost department store, and children gaze longingly through the window of a toy shop.

This retro photo gallery also captures the end of an era, showing the last trucks to roll off the production line at British Leyland’s Bathgate factory, and a vast steelworks lying empty following its closure that year.

Some of the biggest stars of their day are pictured too, including the Bay City Rollers and Simple Minds, the model Samantha Fox, and stars of the Scotland men’s football team, who competed at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

The Queen is shown meeting the public as she opens a new factory, while scenes from everyday life include kind-hearted Boys Brigade members washing cars for charity, and crowds enjoying the donkey derby.

These nostalgic 80s images also show school life, popular shopkeepers of the time, and much more.

Do these photos bring back any memories for you? What do you miss most about the 80s?

If you enjoyed this trip down memory lane, you might like our look back at popular 80s shops and their owners.