It was the long-lost Dundee hotel which welcomed some of the world’s biggest music stars in the 1970s and 1980s.
Gilda Wilson had a front row seat as the likes of Freddie Mercury, David Bowie and Rod Stewart stalked the hotel’s corridors before and after some of the city’s most famous gigs.
But what ended up as the job of a lifetime started as a mere attempt for some extra cash from a young girl still at school.
Gilda was behind the front desk at the Angus from the late 60s to the early 70s, and despite all the years that have passed since, she still remembers her time there with misty-eyes and a massive smile.
The Angus Hotel was built in the early 1960s and sat on the corner of Marketgait and Nethergate.
One of the only “new” hotels in the city, Gilda remembers it as being truly iconic.
She said: “The Angus was the most glamorous hotel we had!
“It was brand-new compared to the other hotels in the city at the time.
“I remember its beautiful suites and all the function rooms; it was just a great place to work.”
“I started working there in the late 60s, when I was still at school.
“I wasn’t clever enough to go to university. So when we had the careers interview, I was offered either nursing, secretary work, or civil service.
“That was it for young girls back then, but that just didn’t appeal to me.
“I started off in function waitressing at the Angus when I was about 16, and then from there I ended up in reception.
“It was by mistake, really.
“But I really enjoyed it.”
Gilda soon realised that manning the Angus Hotel’s reception desk would never be dull.
The Angus was Dundee’s top city hotel for around three decades.
It was the place to be – anyone who was anyone would stay at the Angus when they visited Dundee.
Royalty, politicians, rock stars or celebs, they all stayed at the Angus.
And Gilda met them all – even if she wasn’t always sure who they were at first.
She said: “This group of wee laddies turned up in these holey jumpers.
“We were all looking at them thinking, ‘surely your mums and dads would’ve kitted you out in more decent clothes than this!’.
“Of course, turns out they were the Sex Pistols.
“We had no idea who they were!
“But they were so lovely and patient with us. Honestly, butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths.”
That wasn’t the end of the mystery guests.
The stars were often booked into the Angus by a London travel agent to protect their identity.
Neither Gilda nor her colleagues ever knew for sure who was about to turn up.
She remembers one night in particular when she was very surprised by who was on the other end of the phone.
Gilda said: “There was this one night that I was at reception on my own.
“The switchboard went, and it was this English voice asking if we had any available rooms.
“I did the usual, ‘how many, how many nights?’.
“There would be four of them, only looking to stay for the two nights.
“We confirmed the booking and they were off the line before I had a chance to ask for a name.
“Ten minutes later, Queen were standing at the front desk!”
The Angus Hotel had a total of 56 rooms, alongside a couple of function rooms and a bar.
Manning the property was no mean feat!
With so much to keep an eye on, it’s no wonder Gilda did make the occasional mistake!
She added: “One time, I got back to reception and saw a box of chocolates sitting on the desk.
“Me and the girls were so pleased, we thought somebody had left them for us!
“So we started eating them, and a couple of minutes later the phone goes.
“Turns out they belonged to Cliff Richard, and he’d left them on the desk by mistake!
“We had to dash out to buy a new box and send it up to him.
“But he was very nice about it!”
With such a catalogue of memorable experiences, are there any that stand out to her?
She said: “Billy Connolly came up to Dundee to open a record shop.
“He’d been booked in to the Angus, and was waiting on his manager to come and collect him.
“I was just stood speaking to him at the desk – he was just chatting to me about life in general, but he had me in stiches!
“His observations have always been spot on.”
“But my fondest memory is of David Essex.
“The first time he came he was just starting to make it big.
“The whole band was staying and he was stood at the back so we had a hard time figuring out who was who.
“But the second time – everybody knew who he was.
“The Angus was swarmed by fans waiting on him to arrive.
“His manager had to reverse the Range Rover right up to the front doors so that he could climb out through the back window!”
With a constant barrage of stars, anybody would understand if Gilda were to have ended up star-struck.
But ever the professional, she said you couldn’t afford yourself that luxury.
She added: “You were everybody’s first point of contact, and you were there to do the job.
“You just had to respect them in their own right, not because of who they were.
“You couldn’t get embarrassed, you just had to treat them like everybody else!
“Hand on my heart – I never met anybody who wasn’t pleasant to speak to.”
As somebody who ended up there “by mistake”, she’s not done too badly for herself meeting some of the UK’s biggest celebs!
She added: “It wasn’t planned that way!
“At that time, it was just about the extra cash!
“We just had fun.”
Gilda fondly remembers the camaraderie between her and her colleagues.
She said: “We were like a great big family, the reception staff.
“We had to work closely together – and we even partied together!
“Back in the day there were a lot of discos and nightclubs open.
“You’d finish work at 11 o’clock that night and have to be back on duty by 7am, so if you were on reception with someone else you’d head out for a couple of drinks with them and that would help us switch off.
“And because we were in uniform, we would maybe get some money off our entry fee!”
The Angus Hotel was demolished in 1998.
The building was then remodelled and turned into the Overgate in 2000.
It is now the only single-sided shopping mall in Europe, but Gilda said the loss of the Angus is still felt in Dundee.
Gilda added: “It was so sad when they knocked it down.
“It had such character to it.”
But despite the Angus no longer standing, Gilda’s celebrity encounters didn’t end with its reign.
She recently attended a Billy Connolly gig and got the chance to meet the Scottish comedian all over again.
She said: “He came back to the Caird Hall a few years ago.
“My son and I went.
“When it finished, Johnny said, ‘let’s go round the stage door, Mum!’
“I said, ‘Absolutely not! I’m too old to be a groupie!’
“But my son convinced me.”
“After about 5 minutes, Billy came out and I got the chance to meet him again.
“I got so nervous, I started rambling about the Angus and our time there.”
But did the Big Yin remember her?
“He was very kind and gave me a smile, but I’m not sure.”
With a career as full as Billy’s, Gilda doesn’t hold it against him.
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