A £4 million shopping centre was starting to rise from the grime and the rubble of the former Blackman engineering works in Arbroath 40 years ago.
What we now know as the Abbeygate Centre was home to a conglomeration of industrial workings and buildings left blackened by smoke from factory chimneys.
Nowadays, when you stand in the shopping centre, which still looks good for its age, it takes a fair bit of mental effort to imagine the pre-1984 town-centre industrial area, with grimy smoke everywhere, wee narrow streets and the whole thing covered in stoor.
The venture started in 1982 when the East Angus Co-op was anxious to expand its existing store in Arbroath and paid £800,000 for the former engineering works.
Among the competitors it topped in its bid for the land was the Dundee-based William Low which was Scotland’s largest independent grocery group in the 1980s.
Abacus Development, the property arm of Sir Robert McAlpine and Sons, took over the development at the High Street site in association with the society.
The development costs were £4m but the Co-op’s total investment was around £2m which was helped by a loan from the Scottish Development Agency.
Abacus owned the land but the Co-op was given a 125-year lease of its 36,000 square feet superstore at the Abbeygate Centre at a peppercorn rent.
There were 15 other retail outlets available.
Four were taken by the Burton group.
Teesland Development Co of Northallerton, Yorkshire, were project managers and the building opened in November 1984 and was soon a bustling centre of activity.
The Abbeygate centre was a revelation to Arbroath, with the great benefit of pedestrian access to the town’s High Street and with its own large car park.
In short, the location was ideal.
Shop units were bright and spacious.
They were packed every day of the week in the 1980s.
There have been many changes of tenant at the shopping centre over these 40 years, with those that have gone more likely to have failed nationally than blaming Arbroath.
These photographs show what a large part the Abbeygate has played in the local community and it’s not just the prices that have changed over the years.
How things used to look…
The viewpoint is from the bottom of the present Abbeygate car park, looking towards Market Place.
Taken in February 1968, it shows the demolition of warehouses and workshops of Keith Blackman to make way for more modern facilities.
Catch of the day
The RR Spink wet fish display at the first Sea Fest in 1986, at a sales counter in the Abbeygate Mall.
Present were, from left, were Lorraine Proctor, Robert Spink Junior, Sandra MacEachan, Fiona Campbell and Iain Spink.
Superstore salad bar
Margaret Scrimgeour at the new salad bar in the Abbeygate Co-op Superstore and note the sign in the upper left corner with a four-point guide for customers.
Select size of container you require; place your selection in container using tongs; complete by adding the dressing of your choice; close the lid and pay at the counter!
Anyone for a cuppa?
Do you remember the Jolly Abbot Coffee Shoppe at the Abbeygate?
A bright and spacious area, it was located in that part of the building adjacent to Lordburn.
Don’t tell me to smile
The famous cartoon cat, Garfield, was at the Recent Events store in the Abbeygate at the end of November 1988, collecting money for local charities.
In the picture were, from left, Mairi Goldthorpe, Christopher Wallace, Carrie Findlay, James Cumming, and staff members Fiona Jamieson and Sheila Watt.
From Bunty to Benidorm?
Ian Munro, at one time editor of the Bunty comic, and his wife, Doreen (centre), were presented in May 1990 with a holiday voucher won in the Angus Cancer Help Centre raffle, which was drawn by entertainer Andy Stewart.
Making the presentation at the Lunn Poly holiday shop in the Abbeygate Centre was Gary Swan, sales executive and on the right was Lynda Marr, manager.
Hayshead Primary School
The P1 class from Hayshead Primary School visited the Abbeygate Superstore with teacher Mrs Sheila Love in March 1991 to see how frozen food was stored and displayed.
They were treated to biscuits and juice in the staff canteen by general manager George Hughes.
The revolving door
The Co-op Abbeygate Superstore was a massive shop.
The view we have here in 1993 is looking towards the revolving door to the car park.
4th Arbroath Cubs
The 4th Arbroath Cubs were packing bags at the Abbeygate one Saturday in June 1993.
As a way of thanking the Abbeygate for allowing them to raise funds, Paul Reid and Ewan Murray presented a woggle and Necker to George Hughes, general manager, to make him an honorary Cub.
Celebrating a decade of trade
The Abbeygate Superstore celebrated the 10th anniversary of its opening in November 1994 with a prize draw for customers.
Mrs Jessie Boath won £100 worth of groceries and Mrs Jean Alexander won a portable television and they were pictured with George Hughes, general manager (left) and Bill Lamont, assistant manager (right).
The lost shops
In a time before internet shopping was a thing, you had to walk around the shops to find something you liked or, even better, something on sale.
This image of the Abbeygate Centre from 1995 shows some of the businesses which are sadly no longer there including Clarks shoe shop and Dorothy Perkins.
The fruit and veg department at Abbeygate Centre, Arbroath
The fruit & veg department at the Abbeygate Superstore in October, 1996 with, from left, Iain Addison, Bill Lamont, assistant manager; and Bill Mathieson, store manager.
Iain was channelling his inner Pete Beale for this advertising feature.
Fancy a dram?
Staff at the wines and spirits department at the Abbeygate Co-op Superstore in 1996.
A bottle of wine cost £3 back then with vodka £10 and whisky £11.
In good voice
The Elizabeth Gordon Singers entertained Abbeygate customers in December 1997 to raise money for Help for Abandoned Animals.
There are few musical voices of a certain age in Arbroath who can say no the question, did you perform in the Abbeygate?
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
In May 1997, the magical flying car which captured the imagination of film-goers in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang visited the Abbeygate Centre.
Pierre Picton, owner of the original Chitty, was a one-time circus clown whose comedy car act brought him to the attention of the film producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli.
Keeping safe in the Abbeygate
Arbroath Crime Prevention Panel and Tayside Police joined forces in October 1999 to advise the public about house security in the dark nights of winter.
Pictured were, from left, Dennis Beattie, panel member; Sydney Pattison, Charles Birse and Archie Broadfoot, panel member, with Constable Colin Barnes in the background.
Supermarket sweep
Arbroath woman Susan Paul won a trolley dash around the Iceland store in 2007.
She won the two-minute dash in the bonus card prize draw run by the Abbeygate Centre and found herself tearing round the aisles to cram as much as she could into trolleys.
It’s the final image in our celebration of the shopping mall.
Did our pictorial trip back in time jog any memories for you?
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