Home Report Peterhead

Peterhead is Aberdeenshire’s largest town by population and sits at the easternmost point in Scotland. The town was founded as a fishing port in the 16th century and development over the next four centuries has been greatly influenced by the sea. Indeed, Peterhead is often referred to as The Blue Toon for its fishing port origins and is synonymous with excellent, fresh seafood. The town has a rich culture because of its port, it being one of the ports where reinforcements, money and equipment flowed from France during the Jacobite risings.

Today, Peterhead is noted as being one of the busiest fishing ports in Europe, with over 400 boats, the UK’s biggest daily fish market, plus a 100-berth marina. Ugie Salmon Fishings – a local institution and Scotland’s oldest salmon fish house – sells direct to the public. Besides fishing, the port also serves the oil, gas, and related commercial industries we have come to expect around the North Sea region. But the town’s economy is more diverse than you might think (given just how much fishing is woven into the fabric of the town) with food processing, textiles, and services also making up the local economy. In recent years Peterhead has had significant investment. Plans for growth were earmarked in 2018 for the port and town by Aberdeenshire Council, with a £51 million investment of the port and harbour, plus a recently completed £3.3 million affordable housing development in 2019. These investments, and more from the council, all form part of the ‘Invest Aberdeen’ initiative focused on ‘Developing Our Northern Towns’ to create conditions for more economic growth, diversification, and regeneration in the area over the coming years.

Additionally, adding some spectacle and grandeur of the place, just along the road you will find the dramatic cliff-edge ruin of Slains Castle. It’s said that Bram Stoker was so inspired by the castle that he went off and wrote his famous novel; Dracula! To the north is the important RSPB Reserve, Loch of Strathbeg, a winter home for thousands of wild geese and swans.