Key battlegrounds: Inverness

However, 21st century population statistics show that kind of antipathy has changed, with more people intent on staying rather than heading south to build a future.

Between the 2001 and the 2011 Census results the Highland capital grew 17.8% to 79,202 people. It has a significantly higher proportion of the population in the 18 to 47 age range than the rest of the Highlands, and a lower proportion of over 47-year-olds.

More of the young have stayed and more have come from elsewhere to settle. There is a greater confidence, a vibrancy and a wider spread of opinion.

Inverness is politically complicated, with a high-profile Liberal Democrat MP, an SNP MSP and a mixed council. The Yes and No campaigns both claim great local support and are both active, although the former is more visible.

Danny Alexander, the MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey and Chief Secretary To The Treasury, had to concede the point as he talked to shoppers in the High Street yesterday. But he said it was due to the No Thanks signs being removed, declaring, "The lampposts may say Yes, but the people of Inverness will say No on Thursday."

At the Better Together HQ overlooked by Inverness Castle, Jimmy Gray, the veteran Labour councillor agrees.

A former Provost of Inverness and current Convener of the Highland Council, Mr Gray says he is confident. "The No vote is quiet, but it is there. It is strong."

He says telephone polling for Better Together is giving them about 58%.

But forestry contractor Roddy Maclennan, who is helping the Yes campaign, says it depends where you are in the city. "General canvassing in what would be described in working class areas is roughly 64 to 68 per cent Yes. Last Friday night, on one street, there were 33 people canvassed and only one was a No. Four didn't answer the door. There were four undecided and we persuaded two to vote Yes. All the rest were already Yes."

Mark Boag sees it differently. He was born and bred in Inverness and is graduate of the city's University Of The Highlands And Islands. He is a support worker with the homeless and is an enthusiastic supporter of Better Together.

He says opinion amongst the homeless - who are eligible to vote - he works with is pretty evenly divided "but properly teetering towards No".

Mr Boag also says he has been getting positive feedback on the doorsteps. "I am confident about Inverness," he says and, somewhat unusually, adds: "The Yes campaign has been very dignified. There have been no problems."

He continues: "I think a No vote offers many strengths, We know definitely we will have the pound. We will continue as members of the EU and be kept safe by the world's most professional Armed Forces.

One of the nice ironies of the Inverness 'battleground' is the Yes campaign's HQ is in Union Street. Its volunteers say support is increasing.

One the Yes campaign can rely on is television editor Sandra MacLeod. Originally from Mallaig, she now lives in Inverness with her lawyer husband and their two young sons. She is relishing being in the city as Scotland wrestles with her future.

Ms MacLeod says: "Inverness is buzzing, there are a lot of positive vibes, particularly around the Yes side. You really feel there is something important in the air. I have had friends and relatives up from Fort William, Glasgow and Dumfries and Galloway and they can't believe the attention being paid to the referendum up here. There is an atmosphere round the place, on the streets, anywhere really; people are talking about it.

"A lot of people are saying the campaigning has been very aggressive. But I don't see that. It is the biggest decision most of us will make in our lifetime, so I do not see anything wrong with both sides becoming passionate about it."

She looks forward to a time when Scotland can raise its own taxes to finance what are priorities north of the Border, which she feels are different to those of the rest of the UK.

But she adds: "Most importantly for me, it is about Scotland taking its own place in the world. We are told independence is separation, but it is the opposite. It is a re-joining: taking a place in the UN, a seat in the EU, and, most importantly of all, an ability to shape our own foreign policy, so we can ensure we do not take part in any wars against our will."

On Saturday there was a rumour Lord Prescott was heading to Inverness to campaign for the No camp. It was wrong, but had he made it the former Labour deputy prime minister would have found opposing campaigns lined up on the High Street.

There were stalls set up by the Greens, Women for Independence, the Radical Independence Campaign, and Business for Scotland all urging the public to vote Yes, in addition to the official Yes Campaign stall. But Better Together was also there with its stall.

Simon Bone, originally from Guernsey, had travelled from London to help Better Together two months ago because he said there was so much complacency in London. "They think the Scots have got a good deal," he says.

He is looking to set up an office space business in Scotland. "But I just think it will be a disaster for both sides of the Border if Scotland votes Yes. We are the sixth biggest economy in the world, and the UK flag is the number one known flag. So why break up a winning partnership?"

Mr Bone says he is a regular at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. "I do stand-up", he adds.

Meanwhile, at the Green Party stall David Jardine, a veteran of the party in the Highlands, who was twice a parliamentary candidate, says the campaign is boosting the membership locally and nationally. "We are approaching 500 new members across Scotland, but I suppose we may have lost one or two at the same time."

But he is confident, adding: "I certainly hope so because I put £10 on a Yes vote in February and got odds of nine to two. I think you can still get three to one, which is a pretty good bet."