‘My dream to turn Union Street RBS into Aberdeen drinks museum’

There's the possibility of another gaping hole on Union Street after Royal Bank of Scotland revealed plans to close its flagship branch. But could a drink museum in the grand building - much more than a dusty bottle bank - put the Granite Mile on the map?

By Alastair Gossip

April 20 2024, 6:00 am

Adam Elan-Elmegirab thinks the Royal Bank of Scotland site on Union Street could be the perfect place for a museum celebrating Aberdeen's brewing and distilling history - if RBS closes the branch as planned. Image: DC Thomson

A swirling storm of “what ifs” kept Adam Elan-Elmegirab awake on Wednesday night.

Winding down for the evening, he’d read news of Royal Bank of Scotland’s planned closure of the 78 Union Street branch.

The announcement is another blow for Aberdeen’s embattled high street, only a stone’s throw from the flagship Marks and Spencer shop on St Nicholas Street.

Together, these buildings could soon prove towering empty spectres across from the city’s £40 million market development.

Work begins a week on Monday to revamp central Union Street as the council looks to give people reasons to come to the city centre.

What if?

There are already a lot of “what ifs” for those with an eye on the regeneration of Aberdeen.

But sleep escaped Adam, founder of city distillery House of Botanicals, as another dozen raced around his mind.

Adam "can't sleep" for thinking of the possibilities for a building like RBS on Union Street for his long-sought Aberdeen drinks museum. Image: Adam Elan-Elmegirad/The House of Botanicals — Adam “can’t sleep” for thinking of the possibilities for a building like RBS on Union Street for his long-sought Aberdeen drinks museum. Image: Adam Elan-Elmegirad/The House of Botanicals

Having already shared his vision for a museum celebrating Aberdeen’s overlooked heritage in brewing and distilling, Adam took to social media the next morning as he eyed the RBS building with excitement.

“What if that building was to become the home of my drinks museum idea, detailing the history and future of beverage production in Aberdeen?

“What if the museum had the oldest known record of a whisky still on display as the centrepiece?”

He continued, listing many aspects of Aberdeen’s rich beverage-trading story: “What if… What if… What if… What if indeed…”

‘Non-stop, crazy response’

Since, hundreds have voiced support for the idea in his Facebook and LinkedIn comments, or by liking and sharing his posts.

Others, including leading voices with an interest in the renewal of Aberdeen city centre, have offered help towards the goal.

Adam has long held the belief that Aberdeen should have a drinks museum - and has now set his sights on the Union Street RBS. Image: Adam Elan-Elmegirad/The House of Botanicals — Adam has long held the belief that Aberdeen should have a drinks museum – and has now set his sights on the Union Street RBS. Image: Adam Elan-Elmegirad/The House of Botanicals

As he speaks to The Press and Journal on Friday afternoon, his phone and laptop are still pinging away as support continues to flood in.

“It’s all gone a bit crazy. It’s been non-stop,” Adam tells us.

“It definitely seems that the people want this to happen.

“I have been sitting on this idea for years after I started got into the history when I bartending.

“There’s lots of history of booze in Aberdeen and lots of it seems to have had very little coverage.”

Whisky history galore only a short walk from RBS on Union Street

It’s easy to understand why Adam’s imagination is running away with itself.

He’s looked at other venues, and his fancy has included space in the soon-to-decant M&S.

But the bank is the first potentially available venue he sees having the “wow factor”.

RBS on Union Street is to close, the bank's bosses have announced. Image: Kami Thomson/DC Thomson — RBS on Union Street is to close, the bank’s bosses have announced. Image: Kami Thomson/DC Thomson

Less than 500 ft from RBS’ front door, Scotland’s oldest independent whisky bottler Wm Cadenhead Ltd set up shop at 47 Netherkirkgate.

Just round the corner, a black heritage plaque is a reminder of the Chivas Brothers’ Emporium at 13 King Street.

Down the hill towards the harbour, a trio of tea blending brothers, the Grahams, started Black Bottle Whisky and traded out of Regent Street and Market Street.

Watson’s Rum too began in Aberdeen, while Royal Lochnagar distillery founder John Begg operated his Wholesale, Porter, Ale and Spirit Dealers in Correction Wynd.

Adam also thinks there’s a story to tell of the 38 female brewers who plied their trade on the Green in the early 16th century.

Aberdeen drinks museum could take visitors on journey from early 1500s to modern day

His House of Botanicals was among the first of the new wave of drink production in the north-east.

Alongside craft beermakers Brewdog, in the late 00s they set a path many other modern producers would soon follow.

The House of Botanicals was among the first of the modern drinks producers in Aberdeen. Image: Adam Elan-Elmegirab/The House of Botanicals

And Adam doesn’t want the museum to only showcase the past.

Although he thinks it should tie in with the Maritime Museum, he wants the new names on the scene like Fierce Beer and Six Degrees North to be celebrated too.

From RBS, it could all tie in with Aberdeen’s future too. The £40m market, directly across Union Street, is hoped to be built by summer 2026.

And while it’s Adam’s concept – and he’s keen to stress it’s an early, raw idea whose feasibility is yet to be probed – he would want the city to run it and to invest the profits for the common weal.

The details are yet to be ironed out, with help being sought from Aberdeen City Council, Our Union Street, the Chamber of Commerce and others.

Answers awaited on RBS’ Aberdeen premises

But the distiller is certain of one thing.

A new visualisation of Union Street central in Aberdeen. Work on the revamp will begin at the end of April. Image: Aberdeen City Council

Adam tells us: “Seeing the RBS space, it just feels like the one that makes sense.

“I can’t sleep for thinking about it.

“It’s that hub in the city centre I am looking for, connected to the harbour and across from the new market.

“I shared this idea to get it and what the House of Botanticals is doing on the map, but it is only a concept just now.”

Those answers will likely have to wait, as the bank’s staff await news on their jobs and potential redundancy.

Despite this, online supporters seem willing to put their money behind the drinks museum and have suggested crowdfunding.

Aberdeen whisky museum: A Chivas Regal room, Black Bottle boutique or Watson’s Rum wing in the Union Street RBS?

Many of the worldwide brands above still trade on their Aberdeen heritage but have little current day presence.

This plaque at 9-11 King Street one of the only traces of the Chivas Brothers' decades of trade in Aberdeen city centre. Image: Chris Sumner/DC Thomson — This plaque at 9-11 King Street one of the only traces of the Chivas Brothers’ decades of trade in Aberdeen city centre. Image: Chris Sumner/DC Thomson

Chivas Regal’s 13-year-old is aged that extra year on the more traditional 12 as a nod to the brothers’ King Street address, for example.

And so Adam is keen to see if those global names would contribute too.

Looking at the success of Kilmarnock-rooted Johnnie Walker’s tourist attraction in Edinburgh, a celebration of more locally relevant names could put the Granite City on the map, he claims.

The Johnnie Walker Whisky Experience in Edinburgh has shown tourists could have a healthy thirst for an Aberdeen drinks museum. Image: Diageo

“People already travel through our city from all over the world to visit Speyside and Highland distilleries, and this would attract them to look at Aberdeen too.

“If we got the record of the earliest production of whisky from the Burgh Records archives, people would fly from all over to see that alone. It should be on display.”

The House of Botanicals is already fundraising for its distillery at the Arches in Palmerston Road, which Adam is urging backers to look at as “family-owned independent businesses need support more than ever”.

“We’ve rightly got a lot to be aggrieved about, but we’ve also got a lot to champion and celebrate in our little corner of the world,” he wrote on Facebook as he tried to keep ahead of the runaway, pinging notifications.

With the hundreds of interactions as a weighty backing for talks with potential backers, Adam intends to soon launch a survey to properly gauge the feasibility of the idea.