Twa pehs..an’ a V&A an’aw
SIX MONTHS TO GO UNTIL MUSEUM’S OPENING Dundonians believe their city’s mouth-watering new attraction will have tourists heading to the waterfront in their droves
caused huge excitement when they opened in the city in 2014 and there are at least two other new hotels planned.
The council are working hard on the things they can directly control – coach parking, signs directing visitors to car parks – and are encouraging private enterprise to pick up the slack.
This is a tricky balancing act. The city needs places for visitors to eat, drink and go shopping but does not want to become a bland run of the same old Caffe Nerobucks as everywhere else.
Some independent bars, restaurants and coffee shops have popped up over the last couple of years and St Andrews Brewing are setting up shop underneath the Caird Hall.
But there are still derelict shops, to-rent signs on office blocks and boarded-up windows on historic buildings, such as the Customs House, that are just crying out for investment and imagination.
Business development officer Gaynor Sullivan believes this will change. She said: “Nando’s have been here for a while now. When these types of businesses come in, others will follow. When we speak to people from major chains, they tell us, ‘I’m watching.’
“But we don’t want to be any city, any place. We want Dundee to be unique, we want it to be different.”
In the run-up to the launch, everyone is very on-message.
John Alexander, the 29-year-old SNP leader of Dundee City Council, was at primary school when the waterfront’s transformation started. He is confident that the city will be ready when the world arrives to visit the new museum.
He said: “Everybody has realised that Dundee is not going to create its future on jute, jam and journalism. That’s a historic tag line. We’ve got far more we should be selling the city on.”
There are doubts about the mix of offices, flats and hotels being built around the museum and the piecemeal pace of development.
And the £18 charge to see the opening exhibition, Ocean Liners: Speed and Style, has raised eyebrows. It has already been on show in London and does not have a strong Dundee element. The city’s cool students and games designers had hoped for the David Bowie show instead.
But these quibbles are mixed with anticipation.
Dundee artist Blake Venus said: “I know some fine artists feel that it’s going to be too design-based and they feel a bit left out. But it will be a fantastic-looking building and it’s exciting to see it put Dundee on the map.”
Alexander added: “At the early stages, the waterfront and the V&A were a concept. It was hard to imagine the reality. Now people are seeing the potential.
“I’ve had people saying, ‘We’ve changed our minds, this is fantastic, I can see the benefit.’ That’s only grown as international attention has grown.
“People have discovered a sense of pride in the city they haven’t had for decades.”