A Nando’s restaurant has been forced to remove security gates from a “historic” Dundee close.
This month, the South African chicken chain installed wooden gates at a pend on the Nethergate beside its premises.
The public access, which connects Nethergate and Crichton Street, is historically known as Scotts Close or Hary Ogilvie’s Close.
The close appears on a map of Dundee from 1776 designed by William Crawford Snr, which features on a wall plaque at the Nethergate entrance.
Those who know the historic significance of the area said they were “bewildered” to find it gated off.
One man said: “There is a plaque which recognises the historic significance of the close at the Nethergate entrance.
“When we walked down two gates had been installed prohibiting access to get onto Crichton Street.
“We were a bit bewildered as the gates were only partially opening – you couldn’t get through.
“That access is used by several businesses to get stock in to their Crichton Street shops and it’s a public access.”
The Courier understands issues with drug taking and dealing may have been a factor in Nando’s trying to install the gates.
A spokeswoman admitted they had “got ahead” of themselves by installing the gates without consent.
She said: “We would like to install gates to improve the security of our restaurant and provide additional safety for our team.
“However, we got ahead of ourselves, and the gates were accidentally installed without the necessary consents in place, and we’re sorry for this.
“We’ve taken them down and hope to be able to re-install them soon.”
