Numerous shops and retailers have graced Arbroath through the decades.
As in all towns and villages where fish and shellfish were caught and landed, there were many back-door outlets in Arbroath, selling small quantities and just ticking over.
But some of these became more established and this was particularly the case with smoke-houses where the traditional Arbroath Smokie, with its unique flavour, was carefully re-created.
These nostalgic pictures hark back to the time when barely a shop was unlit and the town was in its heyday.
This was particularly true 40 and 50 years ago, until modern shopping habits started to draw customers towards the big city.
More recently, the pandemic robbed High Streets of their footfall and many people began getting their weekly shop delivered to their doors.
Many of these well-loved independent retailers have disappeared; for example, Yule, newsagent; Strachan the butcher; Fairweather the shoe-maker, and A.K. Adamson, tailors and outfitters.
But there is resilience in Arbroath, with quality food from fish and farm, where the acknowledged excellence of the product brings people into the town from round and about.
Good News
The Good News Bookshop and Coffee Shop were near the junction of High Street and Guthrie Port.
The Christian bookshop was the brainchild of Sandra Duncan.
It opened in July 1987 and featured a huge range of Christian literature, videos, records and cassettes and was run on a voluntary basis by members of various churches.
It was open six days a week with a creche service on Thursdays and Fridays.
The Good News Bookshop was a relatively short-lived venture, despite being among the fore-runners of having a coffee shop attached as a complementary attraction.
The picture was taken in September 1987.
Strachan the butcher
Now occupied by Smithies delicatessen, A. Strachan, butcher was run by two generations of the family, latterly David.
Archibald Strachan took over the business of Direct Meat Supplies at 16 Keptie Street in 1958 and vowed to carry on the “fine traditions of this firm for quality and service”.
Strachan’s was the place for a “fine selection of turkeys, chicken, geese and poultry”.
David, now retired, is a stalwart of Arbroath Boxing Club.
This was the shop in 1985.
Modern Fish Shop
An undated picture from High Street, Arbroath, showing the Modern Fish Shop.
The proprietor was the legendary Betsy Swankie.
Betsy was associated with the fishing industry since the age of 12.
When she turned 80 in 1962 the Arbroath Guide said her name was a “household word wherever fish are bought or sold”.
It said her shop was known all over the east of Scotland and beyond and that she had many friends in many walks of life including “peers of the realm, stars of the stage or sport, politicians or personalities in the fishing industry”.
She appeared as a contestant on the 1960s TV panel game What’s My Line, and beat David Nixon, Isabel Barnett, Barbara Kelly and Gilbert Harding.
R.S Cargill’s
R.S Cargill’s restaurant and sweetie shop was at 212 High Street, Arbroath, where the Card Factory is now located.
Mr Cargill, known affectionately as Bertie Sugar, ran a fleet of ice cream vans, and stabled them in a garage near the junction of Commerce Street and Marketgate, effectively behind the TSB.
The garage is now demolished.
This picture is thought to have been taken about 40 years ago.
And his ices really were delicious.
Mayfield shops
At first sight this is just a photograph from 1970 of a Co-op shop, with flats built overhead.
But if you look today at the Mayfield co-op, it is still there in a recognisable form, but the flats above have gone.
Indeed, whilst all the shops, restaurants and takeaways in that group remain, now with a pitched roof, every one of the flats has been removed.
It is believed that they were difficult to let but the shops were thriving, hence the demolition work, which was started in 2010.
Stevensons
The Arbroath branch of the national chain, Stevensons Cleaners and Launderers, was at the corner of Kirk Square and High Street.
It was in premises currently occupied by Thorntons estate agency and which were formerly part of the White Hart Hotel.
Stevensons was the place for “speedy satisfying service”.
The firm’s tagline was: “When your linen needs laundering or your clothes need cleaning, send them to Stevensons”.
There was another Tayside branch in Broughty Ferry.
Fisheracre shops
An early picture of the shops at Fisheracre, Arbroath, taken in July 1961.
Arbroath Flower Centre was established by Jim and Bill McGugan and was the place for “every floral requirement” and also sold potatoes, fruit and vegetables.
Grimmond & Russell were well-established butchers in the town.
The firm specialised in cooked meats and promised customers they would supply them with the “best in beef, lamb and pork”, which were all fed locally.
And is that Vauxhall at the left of the picture a Cresta, Wyvern or Velox?
Garland
This was Garland’s tobacco and sweetie shop in 1986.
Garland’s came from the era when the expression “high-class tobacconist” meant expensive cigars and the finest pipe tobacco, but such boasts are long in the past.
Today the High Street premises house KF Barbers.
George T Shepherd
George T Shepherd’s billiard hall, tobacconist and sweetie shop on Brothock Bridge.
The building does not appear to have survived.
The premises were also photographed as belonging to Mrs Annie Shepherd; and in the Arbroath Year Book for 1939-40 stated as belonging to Mrs George Shepherd.
There is a possible explanation here of why George S Shepherd, editor of the Arbroath Herald, used his middle initial, to distinguish himself from the tobacconist.
Grant’s shoe shop
This photograph of what is now Brown’s Pet Shop, 249 High Street, Arbroath, was taken during the celebrations for the coronation of King George V in 1910.
Three generations of the Brown family have been in charge, with Steve now at the helm.
At that time the shop was a retail outlet of Colin Grant, whose factory was in Hill Road (later the Marine Ballroom) and another shop at 86 High Street, later Yule’s news agency and toy shop, and now Haq’s news agency and Post Office.
Grant’s sold boots and shoes and, in 1910, had been trading for 50 years.
They sold footwear for “all ages and kinds of wear” and the “varied requirements of all classes of customer” including “wet resisting fishing and shooting boots and shoes”.
Stewart the butcher
George Stewart, butcher and game dealer, had his shop at 173 High Street in 1935.
Note the phone number – Arbroath 3.
Stewart’s meat was said to be “drawn from the finest stock in Angus” with Ayrshire bacon and Sinclair’s Belfast bacon among the customer favourites.
As for the game?
In 1939 he was advertising a large selection of trapped rabbits for sale for 8p each.
Changed days.
There are still many butcher’s shops in Arbroath with, on occasion, queues outside their doors, such as Robertson’s, Falconer’s and Fleming’s, although the latter is no longer under the ownership of the Fleming family.
A.K Adamson
The buildings are the same but the uses to which they are put has changed.
A.K Adamson Outfitters’ at the right is now Ladbrokes the bookies, which is on the left in this picture.
Mr Adamson used to have a fashion column in the Arbroath Guide and “sale time” at the store was always popular when the firm offered up “bargains extraordinary”.
Usually served up with the tagline: “It will pay you to buy at this money-saving event”.
Arbroath Travel Centre has gone, and the site has for a number of years housed Body Beautiful.
The Waverley Hotel has been closed for many years.
Sandy Yule’s
Our final image is from October 1997.
Sandy Yule’s news agency and toyshop at 256 High Street was a veritable Aladdin’s Cave and the perfect place to stock up with birthday and Christmas gifts.
Just look at the range of games and toys in the shop window back in the day.
The shop is now occupied by Angus County Sports.