HUNTLY SQUARE SHOPS - 1963

It doesn't look particularly wintery, but these photos were taken on 19th December 1963.

The square is located between Aboyne Avenue running along the top, and Huntly Road at the bottom.

We just called this place Craigie Shops rather than Huntly Square, this being my neck of the woods back then, and when schoolboy age went there almost every day as they were also on our school route.

Amongst the shops were - Jack Chalmers, butcher - Moore, grocer - Primo, chip shop - Black, baker - Steele, household goods - Stan Gordon, newsagent - Wallace's, baker - Gowans, draper, some of which show up on the pictures above. Needless to say, during the course of time, some shops disappeared and new ones opened, so later there was a Tudor Crisps warehouse - V.G. Store - Farmfoods shop - Dempsey's, hairdresser - a Police Station - Nan's, chip shop - Church of Nazarene, and no doubt a few others that have slipped past my memory.

It wasn't just a place we shopped, we also hung out there and turned it into a play area - football, hide & seek, pitchie, the usual kind of stuff. We also indulged in a game called "Follow The Leader" which was almost like a pre-cursor to present day Parkour. A snake of us would line up and we'd all have to copy the exact movements of the leader in front. Wherever the leader went or whatever they did, everyone else behind had to do the same, so there was a lot of running around, jumping over objects, balancing on structure, that kind of stuff - a bit daring at times, well for primary age kids!

Oh yeah, and it was also a great place to go stot your Superball..!!

Click on images to enlarge if you want to nose around.

Photos by DC Thomson.

THE TUDOR CRISPS VAN

In the 70's, Tudor Crisps had a warehouse at the Craigie shops in Huntly Road.
I'd see their van passing our way quite a lot. It had the face of Henry VIII on the side of the van, and it was one of those portraits...you know how on some paintings the eyes appear to follow you around the room...well it was the same with Henry. When the van was coming towards you, you'd see Henry staring at you from the side of the vehicle, and when the van had passed, he would still be looking at you, even if it was from a different angle - as if he swivelled his head around keeping an eye on you!
Always amusing thing to observe at schoolboy age.
What he didn't manage to catch the sight of however, was when one day, a couple of Craigie High pupils nicked a box of crisps from the back of the van when it was being loaded up at the warehouse and they ran back with it into the playground at lunchtime for us all to dip into!!

LAND O' CAKES IN CRAIGIE

This was probably one of the lesser known Land O' Cakes shops in Dundee - the Craigie one in Huntly Square. These shops were built in 1962/63 and Wallace's were one of the first to move in.

The top picture was taken in December 1963 and as you can see, shows the full window display. However, it was a very short lived stay because by September '64, when the other picture was taken, it had a "Closed Down" sign on the window and nothing but empty doilies inside.

The sign also informs everyone that the nearest branch can be found in Baluniefield Avenue, but they meant Baluniefield Road!

Photos by DC Thomson.

GOING GUISING IN THE 60's

I remember going guising twice.
First attempt there was a big squad of us and so once the money was split we only made a few shillings each.
Next year, there was only 2 of us and we ended up making a few quid!!
The second year was the most interesting too because I took my guitar along with me. Although it was only me and my mate, we weren't a double act, we both sang different songs separately.
I chose a pop hit that was in the charts at the time - "Zabadak" by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich. This was in 1967 when I was 9. The song started with a percussive intro, so to do that I played "bongo style" on the back of my guitar, and when the time came to burst into the music bit I quickly flipped the guitar back over to its normal position and proceeded to strum along!
My mates party piece was "Nobody's Child", going for the sympathy vote there!!
Anyway, a couple of hours around the block in Craigie and all that loose change became pounds by the end of the evening.

Should anyone be curious, here is a link to Zabadak - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEBFH9R3cg4

And if anybody wants to hae a wee greet, here's a version of Nobody's Child -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ_j3FATQeo

As regards the night shot photo, well that's a view from my old bedroom window - 1973ish. It's Kemnay Gardens in Craigie looking over to Huntly Place.

MID 70'S AIR SHOT - CRAIGIE

My old area...
The Arbroath Road/Kingsway roundabout splits the picture in two - with Craigie on the left and Craigie High School to the right.
Aboyne Avenue is the main road far left going up towards the Gotterstone area. The shorter road to the right of Aboyne, running parallel to it is Huntly Road, going up to Monymusk Park (belonging to Dundee High School!). Sandwiched in between Aboyne & Huntly are the shops (Huntly Square).
In the 60's there used to be a disused Power Station along Huntly Road, we called it "The Powerie". This became obsolete early 60's when the Douglas Road Electricity Station opened (bottom left of pic). When we were primary age we used the empty Powerie location as a play area. Hide & seek, kissy catchy, truth dare and so on. Later we got a rope swing up on one of the trees. In the late 70's, the Powerie was knocked down and housing built on the site.
Behind Huntly Place are garages (the lock-ups). We had some brilliant games of football there. It was also an area we'd go plundering the nearby gardens for apples and plums during the dark Autumn evenings.
In the early 70's, I had a few stints at delivering the papers around Craigie, usually only filling in for when the regular paper boys couldn't manage.
In 1973, when I was at Craigie High, I had a better paid regular job for a while, delivering rolls (Cuthberts, I think). Slightly further afield this time - Craigie Drive, Dawson and Gotterstone. It was a bit of a killer after a few months though, getting up at 5 in the morning then having to go to school after it. The long days did seem to be forgotten about however when it came to Fridays...pay day!!
When I left CHS in '74, we used to play futba in the evenings still using the school pitch. Mind you, it meant we had to climb over the closed gates on Arbroath Road and chance not getting caught by the jannie. 9 times out of 10 we got away with it though!!
Click on the image for a larger view.

PRIMO'S IN HUNTLY SQUARE

Owned by Primo Zaccarini, PRIMO'S CAFE in Huntly Square in the 60's, was really a chip shop rather than a sit-in cafe.
The outside door on the right of the shop took you to a curvy grey formica counter that swept along in front of the frying area and lead to a confectionery corner on the left.
The outside door on the left opened into a small ice-cream parlour that was partitioned off from the main shop but you could also get to from a door inside.
In the early 70's the premises was taken over by Nan Howard although it still remained the same chip shop & confectioner set up.

Here below, is a wee slideshow of some of the products that would have been available from the ice-cream parlour in the 60's & 70's.

Photo by DC Thomson.