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Past Times

15 photos show life in Lochee across four decades

Take a stroll round Lochee and see what has changed over the past 40 years.
Graeme Strachan
Guests of honour and prize-winners at Lochee Boys Club in 1980. Image: DC Thomson.
Guests of honour and prize-winners at Lochee Boys Club in 1980. Image: DC Thomson.

These brilliant photos capture moments and the changing face of Lochee as different generations will remember it.

The DC Thomson archives team have looked out images from the 1980s and 1990s with many familiar sights of days gone by.

The gallery features everything from the demise of the linoleum works to the old Highgate Centre which were both consigned to history.

Grab yourself a cuppa and have a browse back in time courtesy of The Dundonian, which appears in the Evening Telegraph every Wednesday.

Some of these photographs have not been seen for years.

Maybe you will spot a familiar face.


Marshall Street

Workmen in Marshall Street, Lochee, in May 1980.
Workmen getting things in hand in May 1980. Image: DC Thomson.

Workmen were busy fencing off and grassing over the open corner site at Marshall Street in May 1980 and removing a pedestrian hazard.

People were evading using the subway and walking across the dual carriageway.

A barrier was erected to encourage people to use the subway.

South Road

South Road, Lochee, in 1980.
The changing face of Lochee in 1980. Image: DC Thomson.

A woman walking on a path along South Road in August 1980.

The former Dundee Linoleum Works and Queensway furniture shop are in the background with the skyline dominated by several multi-storey blocks.

Working up a sweat

Staff at Lochee Swimming and Leisure Centre.
Staff members demonstrating some of the new equipment. Image: DC Thomson.

What are the benefits of working out with a moustache?

Staff at the Lochee Swimming and Leisure Centre were pictured with the new equipment which was installed including a bike and step machine.

Going, going, gone…

Chimney of the abandoned linoleum works coming down.
Chimney of the abandoned linoleum works coming down. Image: DC Thomson.

The chimney of the abandoned Dundee Linoleum Works on South Road was brought down to earth with a bang in August 1981.

The chimney stood for 80 years and the former factory is now the site of Tesco.

Lochee Post Office

Mr Farquhar promised to take up the matter with the authorities. Image: DC Thomson.

A busy queue stretching well into the High Street from Lochee Post Office in June 1982 prompted complaints which were taken up by Councillor Charles Farquhar.

He said: “It is all right on a day like this, but what if it is raining?”

Did they need more staff?

Christian tent

The event brought together people of all Christian backgrounds. Image: DC Thomson.

“Europe’s biggest Christian tent” was erected in Lochee Park in September 1982.

A series of meetings were being held by the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International which was founded in 1953 to spread the word.

Lochee Park

Smiling faces at Lochee Park.
Smiling faces at Lochee Park. Image: DC Thomson.

Sledging in the snow during a wintry scene at Lochee Park in January 1987.

The snow started to fall on January 11 and didn’t let up for four days with temperatures plunging to the lowest on record in many places.

Loons Road

Loons Road, Lochee, at rush hour in 1987.
A busy traffic scene at rush hour in 1987. Image: DC Thomson.

This looks like a scene from the Wacky Races.

Our photographer captured tea-time traffic negotiating the junction with Loons Road and Logie Street in April 1987.

Has much changed today?

Lochee Library

Lochee Library in February 1989.
Lochee Library in February 1989. Image: DC Thomson.

A row of parked cars on the street outside Lochee Library.

The High Street building was the first branch established in the city in connection with the Dundee Free Library and opened in February 1896.

Queensway

A crowd outside Queensway in August 1990
A large crowd gathering outside Queensway in August 1990. Image: DC Thomson.

A queue of customers outside Queensway in Lochee’s South Road which was selling off existing stock and display items with up to 50% off.

Official receivers Ernst & Young were seeking buyers for all or parts of the company and reopened the various outlets in a bid to maintain it as a going concern.

Charity shop break-in

The shop formerly housed the Lochee sub-post office. Image: DC Thomson.

Thieves smashed their way through a window at the back of the Arthritis and Rheumatism Research Council shop on High Street in October 1993.

The raiders scattered the shop’s stock in their search for anything of value.

The shop had only opened 48 hours previously.

Highgate Centre

Inside the Highgate Centre in Lochee.
Several abandoned and boarded up shops. Image: DC Thomson.

The once-bustling Highgate was now a chamber of echoes in October 1993.

It wore its scars up until its partial demolition in September 2012 when the diggers arrived and set about pulling down the remains of the shopping centre.

Lochee Baths

Adults and children gather at the reopening of Lochee Baths.
Adults and children gather at the reopening. Image: DC Thomson.

The Lochee Swimming and Leisure Centre was officially re-opened for its centenary year in April 1995 following a refurbishment costing £125,000.

The upgrading took a couple of months and included replacing tiles, installing a new filter system and upgrading the water circulation equipment.

Whorterbank

Children on play equipment at Whorterbank. Image: DC Thomson.

Residents of the Whorterbank area of Lochee were up in arms in May 1995 over the lack of safe play areas for their children.

They claimed that nothing had been done despite repeated complaints to the district council over the state of the Whorterbank play park.

Youngsters were being forced to play in the road or near houses.

They wanted the park higher up the list of those playgrounds which were being upgraded to improve safety including fitting rubberised surfacing.

It’s the final image in our gallery.

Did these Lochee photos awaken any memories for you?

Let us know.

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