McLEISH BROS - ARCADE - EARLY 70'S

One of the well known shops in the city arcade in Shore Terrace was McLeish Brothers, who were a fishmonger/wee grocer.
This used to be the spot of another popular fishmonger, Cantrell's, but McLeish Bros took over in the early 70's, around about the time of this image.
Photo by DC Thomson.

RADIANT HEALTH CENTRE POSTER - 60'S

The Radiant Health Centre was in the City Arcade in Shore Terrace, and here we have one of their posters from the 60's advertising some of the products they had on offer.

The items promoting healthy living were a combination of therapeutic goods, such as the kind used for rheumatism, pain relief, coughs etc, and the other variety were vitality concoctions such as health foods, diet aids, vitamin pills, bath salts and so on.

They were doing really well with their health-giving sales pitch, and then they went and ruined it by flogging home-brew kits that would leave you with cirrhosis!

I've posted it large size so you can zoom in and have a read.

Just give it a click.

Thanks to Brian Wilson.

CATHIE McCABE'S ARCADE POD - 70'S

Looking like a set out of "2001 A Space Odyssey" and using the Countdown typeface, you might expect this shop to be a hip, ultra modern retail outlet where the young trendy youth hung out, but no, quite the opposite, it was a family friendly place selling a strange mix of toys and rather mundane records.

This is Cathie McCabe's Record Shop at the Arcade in Shore Terrace - picture taken in the early 70's.

The shelving racks were interlocking octagons, a theme that also crops up on their ad, dated 1974 and their carrier bag underneath it.

If you zoom into the photo you'll find a combination of easy listening 8-track cartridges, a few toys scattered around, electrical goods and of course, vinyl records.

Here's the albums I've spotted in the picture -

Klaus Wunderlich - "Around The World".

The Alexander Brothers - "Let's Have A Ceilidh".

Bee Gees - "Best Of".

Various - "Total Sound".

Paul & Linda McCartney - "Ram".

Soundtrack - "Love Story".

And one of those stereo sound samplers called "Impact".

Doesn't really set the pulse racing!

The other item above is from the small ads in the Tele dated January 1972 and you can see for yourself the products they had on offer down at the pod.

In 1974, Cathie McCabe also had shops in Reform Street and Lorne Street Market.

Photo by DC Thomson.

BORDERMATICS & HYND BROS AMUSEMENTS - 70's-80's

The top ad is dated 1981 and is for Bordermatics. They supplied local pubs & clubs with gaming machines, jukeboxes, pool tables etc, and were located at 137 Lorne Street at the time.

I also have another ad of theirs from 1984 and by then they had relocated to 109 High Street, Lochee where they shared premises with Cherry Video rentals.

Bordermatics are still on the go, only now they are based in Broughty Ferry.

I suppose Hynd Bros have done a bit of business with Bordermatics over the years, what with the Hynd's having had an amusement arcade in Reform Street for many years.

The first of the Hynd Bros ads is dated 1972 and is for an exhibition of arcade games at the Angus Hotel.

Then a jump to 1986 and they were announcing the very latest in gaming machines - the Laser Disc System.

In 1988 Hynd Bros had a Scottish exclusive - the first appearance of After Burner.

DUNDEE'S AMUSEMENT ARCADE - 1970's

Around 1970, another Amusement Arcade was proving popular in Dundee - this one was in the Wellgate, and on 2 levels.

The ground floor of #34 (on the corner of Baltic Street) had all the slot machines & games, and upstairs there was a mini dodgems track.

I remember it had the first ever primitive computer screen game, it was called PONG and based on table tennis (ping pong).

Spent quite a few bob at the arcade there Saturday mornings - Pong in particular.

Photo by DC Thomson.

DUNDEE'S AMUSEMENT ARCADE - 1960's

Probably most of Dundee's kids paid a visit to the Amusement Arcade in Shore Terrace in the 60's. It had the usual kind of stuff, slot machines, rides & shooting games, but the one I liked best was "Torpedo". You looked through a submarine periscope to view ships passing on the horizon. You then had to calculate when to fire the torpedo to hit the ships. It did take 2 or 3 seconds to travel through the water, so it was a bit hit and miss. The path of the torpedo lit up and when you did make contact, the whole consul flashed on & off along with the sound of the explosion. No computer screens then, these were in 3D depth.
Photo by DC Thomson.Tints by GG.