Dundee has to fight its own corner when it comes to creating jobs and opportunities.
Those who have the bright ideas and entrepreneurial spirit to do that need to be backed to the hilt and supported.
That’s why I’m delighted at the proposal for Dundee’s first street food market at the old Tay Works mill on Brown Street.
Mill Market is a fantastic concept and the kind of initiative which can bring life into the city centre and give visitors from outwith the city – with money to spend – the opportunity to see our other attractions.
I wrote here recently that I’d visited the market at the metro station at Tynemouth near Newcastle.
It was a shopping cornucopia offering everything from food stalls to vinyl records.
And it was rammed with customers spending their money in a bustling and convivial atmosphere.
Recent visits to Denmark and Sweden
Dundee is crying out for places where folk can meet, shop, blether and just generally enjoy ourselves.
And if that location is slap bang in the middle of town so much the better.
We need folk with the ambition, vision and desire to see the city prosper and regenerate.
A well-designed and thoughtfully configured food market, offering produce from all over the world, has the potential to be a great addition to the city’s landscape.
I saw on recent visits to Denmark and Sweden that indoor and outdoor street food markets are hugely popular features.
They’re convivial gathering places where a range of foods and drinks can be enjoyed in agreeable surroundings, providing a unique experience distinct from typical city centre shopping.”
We need to work at making Dundee an attractive place for locals and visitors alike and as wide a variety of shopping and eating experiences as possible is one very good way to do that.
With other Scottish cities currently in the doldrums – Aberdeen’s Union Street and Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street are mere shadows of their great former glories – now is a great time for Dundee to steal a march and put the welcome mat out to attract customers, day-trippers, and short break guests from elsewhere in Scotland.
Impressive city sights
I’ve been occasionally critical of our lack of joined up thinking in selling the city but there are still very many positives in play.
A new food hall offering a thriving and sociable meeting place, the old Debenhams store edging closer to opening, and hopefully restoring the original bustle and vibrancy of the Overgate can both add to a sense of renewal in the centre of town.
The Eden project should also be a major attraction, and Dundee FC’s commitment to the community with the building of both a new training facility at Riverside, and hopefully a state-of-the-art new stadium planned at Camperdown, will both be tremendous visual statements seen by everyone visiting the city through the two main thoroughfares into Dundee.
I know from speaking to those who’ve visited the city how impressed they are with the RRS Discovery and the Verdant Works.
The V&A building has also captured their imagination, albeit many feel more local content would be a boon (and I know they’re working hard to provide that) and the McManus Galleries, for those who’ve visited this often-hidden gem, is a rare treat too.
The city needs to show all its wares and attributes and flaunt them with panache and pride.
A new food hall offering international cuisine from all round the globe would be a superb and welcome addition to our current attractions and those still to come.
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