Uncertain future for legendary city shop

LEGENDARY Dundee record shop Groucho’s will remain closed “until further notice”, sparking fears it may never reopen.

The store has been run by Stella Brodie since the death of her husband, Groucho’s founder Alastair “Breeks” Brodie, last year. It hasn’t reopened after lockdown.

Stella confirmed the shop will remain closed “until further notice” but could not provide more information.

Alastair founded the shop in 1976 and it has had several homes across Dundee, most recently on Nethergate.

His daughter Jenny, who used to work in the shop but has not been directly involved in the day-to-day operations for some time, said: “I am incredibly saddened to see the potential closure and the end of such a legendary focal point for music fans in Dundee.

“Generations of folk have enjoyed the Groucho’s experience, buying their music, finding wee gems or soaking up the atmosphere. I think that it was really a ‘go to’ place for music.

“The customers became pals and the staff became family.

“While for many though, the closure of Groucho’s will be seen as the end of an era, for me personally it marks a final chapter in my childhood and youth. I’ll miss it in so many ways as it was the last tangible link to my dad.

“For my dad it was more than just a shop or a business, it was what gave him a reason to get up in the morning and work until the wee small hours.”

Concerns over the shop’s future were previously raised when Alastair considered closure because of lease issues and his health.

However, there was a reprieve when he managed to secure a new lease.

He hoped a buyer would take over the shop but one has yet to emerge.

A PERTHSHIRE pilot has become the star of a new documentary after he took part in a mercy mission, transporting urgently needed coronavirus testing kits to remote Scottish islands.

Des Hart, 46, from Coupar Angus, signed up for the task organised by the Civil Air Patrol as a way to give something back to the NHS which treated his daughter Sophia, now 10, when she was diagnosed with an aggressive, rare bone cancer in 2016.

He had less than 20 hours to pick up the kits in Stornoway before dropping them off in Benbecula and Barra at a time when normal services were not able to travel to the Western Isles.

A DRIVER who caused a horror crash after learning he was not the biological father of his child has been banned from driving for two years.

Jordan Ross and his passengers had a lucky escape after his car flipped on to its roof on the M90 in July.

The 38-year-old, of Kinghorne Walk, was found to be unfit to drive through drink or drugs following the accident on the Edinburgh to Perth road, near Arlary, Kinross, on July 4.

Ross and his passengers left the Ford Fiesta uninjured, but all were deemed to be under the influence by police.

Appearing from custody, Ross pleaded guilty to driving the car while unfit through drink or drugs.

Mike Short, defending, said that prior to the incident, Ross had been struggling to come to terms with news from his girlfriend that he was not the biological father of the child he had been raising.

Groucho’s o.