A GREENOCK man who left his home town more than six decades ago to travel the world made a special return visit aboard luxury cruise ship Queen Victoria.

Retired banker Ian Robb says that despite being away so long, the town still looked familiar to him.

He believes that while Greenock’s fortunes have shifted dramatically since he left for London in 1959, there are still many parts of the area that have stayed the same.

The 82-year-old and his wife June took a whistlestop taxi tour of the area while the massive Cunard liner they travelled here on was berthed at the town’s new £19.2m cruise ship terminal on Friday.

The former Greenock Academy pupil admits he can hardly recognise the town centre nowadays but says much of the surrounding areas have stayed as he remembers them.

Ian, who grew up on Denholm Street, told the Telegraph that the most noticeable change in the town’s west end was the high number of parked cars that now line the streets.

Greenock Telegraph: Retired banker Ian Robb returns to Greenock during Queen Victoria visit

He said: “It was fascinating to get the opportunity to come in by sea, it’s a beautiful trip up the Clyde.

“I don’t recognise the downtown area much anymore.

“When I lived here it was bustling with shipbuilding, engineering and the sugar refineries.

“There was a lot of activity but since I’ve left that all went.

“It’s still a beautiful location from a tourist point of view, but on the other hand it’s sad to see the lack of economic activity here, that’s the biggest change I see.

“The Clyde used to be full of ships, going up to offload or being on trial from the shipyards. It was constant.

“What’s happening in Greenock now with the cruise ships coming in is a great thing.

“I think the way ships are coming in now is of benefit and it puts Greenock on the map.”

Greenock Telegraph: Greenock new cruise terminal

Ian left Greenock when he was 19 to work in London, having started his banking career at a local branch of the National Bank of Scotland.

After a two-year spell working there, he moved to Barclays Bank DCO and was sent to the Bahamas, before being moved again to Sierra Leone.

He met his wife June during a second stint in the Bahamas and the pair then moved to Johannesburg in South Africa.

The couple had three sons during their stay in the rainbow nation.

Ian was then sent to the USA to open a bank branch in New York and the family stayed there for six years before finally settling down in North Carolina.

Despite his many travels, Ian still has his Scottish accent and continues to keep up to date with the goings on in his hometown by reading the Telegraph online every morning.

The retiree says that while there are a lot of things he values about his upbringing, there are others that he doesn’t regret leaving behind.

Greenock Telegraph: Inverclyde

He added: “One thing I can say is I don’t miss the weather, walking to school in the morning in the horizontal rain was dreadful!

“You spent the whole morning with your coat draped over the radiator at school.

“I value the education I got here in terms of the discipline and what I learned at school here, it’s stood me in good stead.

“I never saw myself living here forever, I was a very restless person and I wanted to see the world and was able to do that through my job.

“That’s no disrespect to Greenock, it’s the place I still remember as my hometown, I’m still proud to say it’s where I come from.”