The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Eight hours on Granite Mile an eye-opener
Ican now tell you precisely where the pavements on Union Street change from one material to another. I’ve now read the plaques for Caroline Phillips, Sir Alexander Ogston and James Clerk Maxwell twice over, and then once again for the sake of it.
I now know when the lunch crowds start to dribble towards their chosen cafes, when they become a full-on rush, and when they start heading back to the office with food in their bellies.
The headline for this story is not an exaggeration – I didn’t just pop out to check what’s happening on Aberdeen’s most famous street once an hour.
At 8.53am on November 4 I set foot on Union Street, and I didn’t step off it again until just after 5pm.
The goal was to track the circadian rhythm of the street, feel the atmosphere of the place, and maybe directly confront the biggest issues it faces.
I didn’t know what I was going to get out of it, if anything.
But by the time the sky was dark I’d heard a horror story set in a charity shop, stopped to contemplate a deeply odd bench, and learned from a busker which other UK city Aberdeen is most like.
Here is how it went. 9AM To start off with a little peek behind the curtain, the idea for this story was first conceived back in the summer.
For various reasons, the date kept being pushed back until last week, when my boss and I decided to finally go for it on the following Friday.
During that meeting, the office windows were being battered by fierce autumn winds and rain, so I was relieved when my initial walk down the quiet street just before 9am was lit by cloudless blue skies, with the Met Office predicting it would stay that way through the day.
When I stopped to watch the Town House clock striking 9am, I was immediately distracted by a man acting quite strangely beside me.
He was also pointing his phone at the clock tower, but each time he snapped a picture he would take one large step to the right and snap another one.
The man snapped and stepped, snapped and stepped, for about 20 minutes, working his way down the eastern end of Union Street.
When he looked like he was done, I asked what was going on.
It was for a time lapse, he said, with the familiar clock as a central point. Not for a project or anything, just for his personal use.
10AM
Time to lay out some ground rules.
Wandering on to Castle Street, I decided, was OK. It’s very hard to tell where it ends and Union Street begins, so it would be hard to police myself.
However, I’d be careful to avoid stepping on any of the tributaries, like
Union Terrace or Belmont Street. Even humble St Nicholas Street would count as an infringement.
To the best of my ability, it would be solid Union Street pavement or shops for a full eight hours.
On my first walk along the full length, I noticed the banners above the street had been taken down, presumably to make way for the Christmas lights.
It was a reminder that despite the dry weather, winter was still coming. I’d packed a hat and gloves just in case.
11AM
I was joined for a short while by Kami, our talented photographer, who got a few pictures of me walking past landmarks on the street as the lunchtime numbers started to swell.
At one point, he was approached by a man who asked to have a go on his camera. It was the first of several slightly unsettling encounters with members of the public through the day.
And later, while speaking to a couple named Alec and Shirley Watson outside Caffe Nero, I heard for the first time a sentiment that would be repeated throughout the day.
Shirley said: “I feel safe on Union Street at this time of day, but I wouldn’t come down at night.”
I knew it would be dark by the time I finished, so I felt the initial rumblings of concern. What was the problem with the street?
“It’s terrible, absolutely disgusting,” Alec said.
“Shopfronts are dirty, shops are empty, they have a terrible mess inside if you look in the windows.
“They need to clean the buildings up, try and get people into the shops with the reduced rents for a start.”
The need to clean up the street’s facades has been recognised before, though that effort is complicated by the need to find out who owns what site.
Business rates, meanwhile, are set by the Scottish Government and are due for a revaluation next year. NOON Having stood outside for three hours already, I was feeling the chill and decided to visit the Union Cafe for a cup of coffee.
While there, I started talking to two women who asked not to be named but who did not hold back with their assessment of the city centre.
“You feel like you have to have your wits about you,” said one.
She had come to the area for a visit to the opticians, and said there wasn’t much to attract her otherwise.
The other woman told me: “A friend of mine was in a charity shop, on Union Street.
“This woman came up outside and started laying into a binman who was just doing his job.
“My friend is in the charity shop as a customer, and the person who was working said, ‘I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to lock you in.’
“They’d had this female
before, and she comes in and wrecks the place, taking things off the shelves.
“My friend is locked in this shop until the woman goes past, and she asks why they don’t call the police.
“The woman in the shop says they used to do that, but they don’t come out now – I couldn’t believe that was happening in Aberdeen.”
1PM
A crow was picking away at chips and curry sauce that someone had dropped at the bottom of Chapel Street. A little further along, a tub of chips and cheese had also been spilled.
I decided to do a full walk up and down the street, to check how busy each of the shops were during what I thought would be the lunchtime peak.
With a few exceptions – such as Primark and the supermarkets – I saw empty storefronts and mostly empty stores.
Clothes shops in particular seemed to be struggling to pull in more than a couple of people at a time, with workers rearranging displays to appear busy.
The cafes and other food outlets were doing well though, and it was nice that independent venues were apparently just as popular as the chains.
Getting hungry, I paid a visit to the cafe at Charles Michie’s Pharmacy and ordered myself a baked potato.
2PM
Mark Grundy has been playing his guitar for passers-by in Aberdeen for several years now, between spells busking around the country.
His improvisational and funky style sets him apart from most of the others in the Granite City’s admittedly small pool of street musicians.
While we were talking, a man came up and ran his fingers along Mark’s strings, saying the guitar was out of tune.
When he didn’t get the reaction he wanted, the man started sounding aggressive, and only backed off when he was told I was recording for the interview.
“I tend to come out in the morning, I don’t particularly like later on because it does get a bit hairy,” Mark said.
Once again, those rumblings of concern about the coming darkness.
He added: “I busk other cities, but Aberdeen’s definitely the most interesting.”
3PM
What is with that bench outside Pret A Manger?
Who is it for? Why is it there? It’s the only bench on the full length of Union Street, and it’s protected by that daft little fence.
I decided it was put there solely for people-watching the folk drinking outside Soul across the road.
Most of the chips and curry sauce from earlier on had disappeared – unclear if it was thanks to a street cleaner or the crows.
4PM
As I entered my final hour on the street, the only buildings lit by the sun were the granite towers at the eastern end: the Town House, the Tolbooth and the Citadel.
I couldn’t deny how lucky I had been with the weather. A day either side and I would have been stuck in some miserable showers, but now, I was being rewarded for my perseverance with a rich sunset.
I had been expecting the streets to get emptier as it got darker, eventually leaving only the people who frightened some of those I had spoken to.
However, as the final minutes of my challenge ticked down, I watched as Union Street gradually got busier and busier.
And the people who were appearing represented Aberdeen in all its diversity: a range of ages, of races and – yes – of circumstances.
The pavements were soon packed once again, full of folk heading home, having a browse through the shops, or looking for a pub or restaurant. While I’ve no doubt the street – and the city more widely – have their problems, it’s clear the people aren’t going to just leave it alone and let it crumble.
We haven’t reached that point – yet. But it’s equally clear changes must be made.
5PM
When I returned to the same spot as eight hours before to watch the Town House clock strike five, I remembered my time-lapse friend.
Like him, I’d taken the time to appreciate a very familiar site from a few different angles to see if it offered anything new.
Tomorrow, more than 150 experts will meet at the Douglas Hotel to do the same, with the aim of tackling the decline of Union Street and putting it on a better path.
The best ideas will get an undisclosed sum of money from Aberdeen Inspired so they can be brought in to make a difference – before time runs out.