Life bloomed in old Wellgate

Craigie recently heard from Fife man Stanley Gordon about the affection he has built up for the Wellgate Shopping Centre in Dundee over the last 40-plus years.

We’re delighted to say Stanley, of Newport, has been back in touch with some more reflections concerning the spot to the immediate south of the Hilltown, this time an evocative journey deeper into the past as he reminisces on childhood ventures to the ancient thoroughfare that stood on the present centre site for most of the last century.

Stanley writes: “I remember going on shopping trips to Dundee’s old Wellgate with my mother in the 1950s. Being brought up in a small town, I found the thoroughfare to be fascinating, although unsettling, what with it being so noisy and crowded.

“From the Hilltown and Victoria Road, Wellgate was the main route leading to Murraygate and the city centre.

“It housed a large and eclectic selection of shops and stores, including grocers, butchers, fishmongers, newsagents, bakers, chemist, a furniture store, draper and a music supply store. In other words, you could literally purchase anything from a loaf of bread to a piano!

“Situated at the corner of Wellgate and Panmure Street was Claude Alexander, the tailor. I always thought it a very classy store – perhaps because of its name – and enjoyed browsing at the wares in the windows.

“A few doors further up the street was Restaurant Wilson, where mum and I would stop off and have a snack. My favourite shop in the whole of the Wellgate was Andrew G Kidd, the baker.

“I looked forward in anticipation to my

visits there, as it sold delicious chocolatecoated sponge teacakes. They were to die for. Manna from heaven! I enjoyed the dark chocolate ones best of all.

“I recollect shopping in the West Riding Wallpaper Co and also in Martin, the ironmongers. They were situated close to the Wellgate Steps, which were a unique feature of the thoroughfare.

“Over the steps, on the east side at the corner of Wellgate and Victoria Road, was Dryden the fruiterer and florist, where my

mother bought bowls of tulips and daffodils as gifts at Christmas.

“I was given a hyacinth bulb and a special glass container, so that I could watch the roots grow down into the water and see the hyacinth bursting into bloom. We also visited Dryden’s around Easter time to purchase daffodils and pussy willows.

“A prominent sign I can remember in the old Wellgate was for Henderson, the house furnisher. It was attached to the building and could be clearly seen from the Wellgate steps. Another was for Hunters, the drapers. The name stood out in bold lettering above the store.

“It seems a pity that at least part of the old Wellgate could not have been preserved as a feature of ‘living history’.”

Craigie’s sincere thanks go to Stanley for his recollections, and if you have a story or memory to share about the Wellgate in bygone times we’d love to hear from you.

This picture, at the start of the 1960s, shows Dundee’s old Wellgate at night, with names such as Claude Alexander and Watt’s visible, along with a second floor billiards club. See left for Stanley Gordon’s recollections of the long-gone city centre thoroughfare.

The Airlie Monument, near Kirriemuir, and the crags above Glen Clova’s Loch Wharral stand out in this shot of the Grampians taken by Forfar resident John Crichton.