Revival for historic printworks

Plant where the nation’s favourites were made

Clockwise from main: an artist’s impression of the planned museum; the empty site where the comics and annuals were produced; some of the ‘contextual observations’ for the museum; issue two of The Dandy, from 1937; the West Ward Works which will house the museum West Ward Works was home to the printing and binding of DC Thomson titles for more than 60 years.

Fleets of cars and lorries were also accommodated in the building where production was relocated from Bank Street to Guthrie Street in 1949.

The workforce of up to 200 produced as many as five million books a year in its 1960s and 1970s heyday.

It was not uncommon for generations of the same family to work together in the building.

Some of the workforce were known to have started as 16-year-old school leavers and left as grandparents.

West Ward Works is best known for its long track record of publishing the hugely-popular Beano, Dandy, Oor Wullie and The Broons annuals.

Other titles produced at the site included the Beezer, Twinkle, Black Bob, Sparky and Topper, along with Commando comic and The Scots Magazine.

Despite a host of new innovations, including DC Thomson’s first digital printing presses, being installed in West Ward Works, production was eventually brought to a halt in 2010.

Thousands of visitors ventured inside West Ward Works when it was opened temporarily for a Dundee Design Festival in 2016 and 2017.

West Ward Works, which was built on the site of Dundee’s first fireproof mill, is used for occasional events, including a concert by the Scottish Ensemble string orchestra earlier this week.

The building is just a few minutes walk from Dundee University, which boasts a large collection of original comic artwork created in the city and also has its own “centre for comic studies”.