Nightclubs

Dundee's nightclub venues have pretty much stayed the same since the 1970's, but have had a series of name changes. 

Fat Sam's has been around for quite some time, the only change being the Live @ Fat Sam's venue.

What we now know as Liquid was previously the Mardi Gras, the exterior to the building hasn't changed all that much, the only difference being that there's a side door called Envy which plays Urban/R&B music.

LONDON NIGHTCLUB

London nightclub was the first club I had been to, this was about 2007 or 2008, and I personally thought it was the best nightclub in Dundee at that time.

It had glass doors as you can see, then just beyond that was the ticket booth and a spiral staircase that took you up to the club.

 The layout of the club was really cool, neon type colours, sharp edges and swirls, and there were small corridor type walkways that took you to different parts of the club.

It was a really popular club, it was always jam packed and sometimes difficult to move about in, especially by the time the doors closed. There was also a ridiculously huge set of stairs near the dance floor which took you down to the smoking area on Euclid Street, and let me tell you, it could get pretty difficult to walk down that staircase by the time you were slaughtered! 

Prior to London it was called Circus, and for a short time after London closed down its name was changed to Cubic, but this didn't last very long. 

The place now remains empty :(

Deja Vu

What was Deja Vu, which is in the same place, is now simply called "The Vu"

This is a club I've never been to in Dundee, so I can't say wether the interior of the club has changed or not.

YUPPIES

Another club which I haven't been to, Yuppies was right next door to London Nighclub, and as far as I'm aware they played 80's music but I could be wrong on that one. Yuppies and London closed around about the same time, I think they may have been owned by the same company.

The Olympia Swimming Centre

The Olympia Swinming Centre was without a doubt one of the most popular attractions in Dundee, particularly at the weekends. It had about 4 pools altogether, it had the main pool, baby pool, diving board pool and another pool which was used for tournaments and for lane swimming. There was a gym which was very popular and a cafe/bar which had windows that overlooked the whole pool.

There was also another tiny pool which connected to the main pool and was called the rapid river and would send you round in a circle because the water was so strong, and had a little island type thing in the middle where you could sit.

I have some great memories in this place that I'll never forget, here's a wee reminder of what the place looked like!

The old Olympa was closed down on the 9th of June 2013 and the new Olympia was opened up in the same month.

I love the new Olympia, it looks visually stunning and really modern compared to the old one which looked a bit worse for wear in it's final years.

The Stack Leisure Park, Lochee

The Stack Leisure Park was really good in the 90s, but as the years wore on the places started to close down, till eventually it just looked dead.

In the 90's, there was: The Odeon Cinema, The Mecca Bingo (which is still there), Tesco (with a cafe), The Megabowl, Fattie Arbuckles, The Venue, Busters & Buzzz Bar.

The ODEON cinema closed first, after two big cinemas opened in Dundee, Cineworld (UGC at that time) and ODEON in Douglas which have over 10 screens each, so there wasn't much need for cinema's elsewhere. This cinema along with various other smaller cinema's were all closed down.

I lived in Ardler and the bus that took me into the city centre always went through the leisure park, and I used to like looking at the artwork on the signs of the buildings!

I used to love going to the bowling when I was younger! It had a wimpy and an arcade type of thing when you first walked in, and a bar which was down to the right, and the zap zone was down to the left, then obviously the alleys straight ahead. It was a really great place; I don't know why they closed it down.

Here's a few snaps of the megabowl to refresh your memory!

Anyway things can't stay the same forever. I haven't actually been up to this area in quite a while but I've heard the place has been regenerated with new shops like Aldi and Home Bargains, and a new garden centre. Well all I can say is thank god, the place really needed a bit of TLC!

Tayside House

Tayside house was built in 1972, and was opened for 1975 and was the headquarters for Dundee City council for just shy of 40 years.

It was also the tallest building in the city centre, at 15 floors.

As you'll see in my previous blog, there was a tunnel which ran from Tayside house to the Olympia swimming centre, so this area was pretty busy in the 90's and 2000's.

In addition to this, there was also a small police station (if memory serves me well) just below the entrance to Tayside House.

The demolition for Tayside house began in 2011, and was completed in July 2013. 

The office block had to be taken down piece by piece because of the busy main road next to it and because of the train tracks which run underneath it.

Dundee City Council is now based in North Lindsay street in a newer, more modern building.

City Square

The city square is a great place to sit on a warm day when you need a break from your shopping. And is the place where the Christmas lights go on, and where the German Beer festival takes place each year.

Here it is in the 1970's

I'm not entirely sure when the road that went round the square was taken away, I always remember it being available only to pedestrians, so I'm guessing it must have been in the late 80's or VERY early 90's. 

I remember my mum would take me down to the wishing wells on a Saturday after our mc Donald's and shopping trips, and we'd make a wish each and throw our coin in, it was a nice way to finish the afternoon!

Here's a photo of City Square probably taken around the late 2000's

Notice the entrance to the long gone Arcade, which has been demolished. And never again will you see Tayside House poking out above the Caird Hall, it was demolished in the summer of 2013.

These rather unique statues have been placed just outside city square. Some people don't like them but I think they look really unique!

90s SUPERMARKETS

Safeway was huge in the 90s and early 2000's! It became defunct in 2005 and taken over by Morrisons.

I remember Kwik Save being one of the regular shops my mum would do the weeks shopping in. I'm sure you will remember the 'No Frills' slogan! Kwik Save became somerfield in 1998.