When Adam Elan-Elmegirab moved his gin distillery under the railway arches on Aberdeen’s Palmerston Road, he thought he’d found the perfect spot.
“It was a dream of a space,” says Adam, the 40-year-old owner of House of Botanicals.
The city centre and railway station were close enough for customers to walk from. Meanwhile, the arches were poised to be an urban redevelopment project similar to ones in London and Manchester that turned former industrial spaces into cool places for young, affluent people to hang out.
Palmerston Road was shaping up to be Aberdeen’s hipster zone.
But then, on a warm Monday morning towards the end of June this year, just as Adam thought he was through the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the construction crews turned up.
They were starting work on the South College Street Improvement project, part of the 25-year Aberdeen city centre masterplan.
The works had been in the pipeline since 2004, but the first Adam knew they were starting was when two men in high-vis jackets knocked on his door that first morning.
The crews quickly got to work, partly blocking off Palmerston Place, which runs perpendicular to Palmerston. Pedestrian traffic under the rail bridge on the corner of Palmerston Road was also restricted.
Meanwhile, traffic on Palmerston Road was blocked off near Adam’s House of Botanicals, effectively cutting the road in half.
Roadworks a ‘final nail in the coffin’
A month and a half on, and the effect on Adam’s business has been “massive”, he says; a “final nail in the coffin” for a business already buffeted by the Covid lockdowns.
Passing trade has all but disappeared and roadworks have turned his end of Palmerston Road into a ghost town.
On a recent Friday, the street is eerily empty. Red warning signs and yellow notices alerting the public to the works stand watch over a deserted throughway.
“On a normal Friday, there would be lots of people walking past, people picking things up,” Adam says. “But there’s no one here at all.”
For Adam’s House of Botanicals, the impact has been its lowest two-month trading figures since the business started out in 2016.
The roadworks have also put on hold a £20,000 renovation plan to move Adam’s tasting room from the back to the front of the unit.
“We’ve got the investment ready to go, to make it something for the city centre,” Adam says. “But right now there’s no point.”
Grit and grime
A few doors down, at Sweet Mumma’s Kitchen on the very end of Palmerston Road, the effect of the roadworks is even more keenly felt.
Owner Leanne Flockhart says she thrived through the lockdown, partly by turning Sweet Mumma’s into a themed kitchen. The space hosted Harry Potter parties and – most recently – a Little Mermaid event where youngsters got the chance to meet a real life Ariel.
But the roadworks have partitioned Sweet Mumma’s off from nearby office workers that would come in for lunch, while starving it of passing trade.
Meanwhile, dust from the construction has left a layer of grime on the flowers Leanne painstakingly installed as part of a rebrand.
“I never complained about anything to do with Covid,” says Leanne, who took over Sweet Mumma’s from the previous owner in 2020. “But then this came along.”
Both Adam and Leanne say they welcome the city regeneration project. However, a lack of communication over how long the work will last has frustrated them.
They were initially told of a 16-week schedule from June. But signs around the construction say parking in the area will be affected until the end of December.
“No one seems to know what’s happening,” Adam says. “It’s bonkers. Just crazy.”
A speedbump to Palmerston Road project
As customers avoid the area, the owners say the roadworks could set back attempts to turn Palmerston Road into a “destination” hotspot on a par with other railway arch developments around the country.
“I’ve been to Manchester, I’ve been to Liverpool and London – there’s some really cool stuff that’s happened there,” Adam says of these developments, which mainly attract independent businesses. “We’ve got that here now and we don’t want to lose it.”
“It’s a little bit different,” Leanne says of the businesses that sit along Palmerston Road.
Her direct neighbours include another alcohol producer, the City of Aberdeen Distillery.
Further up the road sits escape room experts Breakout Games and Wreck-It Room, a games room where participants are given a baseball or sledgehammer along with permission to smash up a range of household objects.
“There’s some amazing, cool places,” Leanne says.
Finding success inbetween struggle
For now, Adam and Leanne are carrying on as best they can through the disruption, and sometimes even succeeding.
Earlier this year, The House of Botanicals’ Classic Old Tom Gin won a gold outstanding medal at the 2022 International Wine and Spirits Competition awards.
Three weeks ago, the 2022 Aberdeen Business Awards crowned Sweet Mumma’s Kitchen the best coffee shop in Aberdeen and the Shire.
But the roadworks are a constant reminder that the post-Covid recovery city hospitality is hoping for remains fragile.
Adam is already considering other options for House of Botanicals, either to move the distillery into a smaller unit further into town or look for a bar to take over.
Leanne has bigger concerns. If the roadworks continue into next year, or Palmerston Road is next to be dug up, perhaps for changes to parking measures, she doesn’t think she can survive.
“We need footfall.” she says.
Adam adds: “It’s a frustration. We’re not the only business in the city that is feeling the pressure, but the roadworks are just compounding things – compounding the frustrations that we’ve had already for three years.”
Aberdeen council responds
An Aberdeen city council spokesperson said phase one of the work on the South College Street junction improvement project is scheduled to be completed in spring next year, and that the Palmerston Place construction was the first stage of that work.
The spokesperson added that letters announcing the works were issued to Palmerston Road businesses on 1 June along with visits from the project contractor, WM Donald.
“In addition, details of the proposed scheme have been shared widely through various channels including online consultations, articles in local media and direct correspondence,” the spokesperson said.
As for Palmerston Road, the spokesperson said no work is planned, including changes to parking.
“Parking restrictions outside of the permanent works area shall return to those in place prior to the commencement of the scheme,” the spokesperson said.
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