Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

A Place to Remember Ronnie Reid: St Machar Bar regular with tribute seat

A Place to Remember Ronnie Reid in St Machar Bar, Aberdeen. Picture of bar by Kami Thomson / DC Thomson
A Place to Remember Ronnie Reid in St Machar Bar, Aberdeen. Picture of bar by Kami Thomson / DC Thomson

A memorial bench on the Esplanade, in a park or by the river, wouldn’t have worked for Aberdeen’s Ronnie Reid.

Only one place was fit to have his name on it, and that was his regular seat in St Machar Bar.

The pub favoured by Aberdeen pensioner Ronnie Reid. Image: Kami Thomson/DC Thomson

As part of our Place to Remember series uncovering the hidden stories of Aberdeen’s memorial benches we visited the 118-year-old drinking spot to find out the story behind “Ronnie’s seat.”

A regular face

Right in the heart of Old Aberdeen, St Machar’s is a pub renowned as being “a university bar since 1904.” But alongside a steady flow of students and Buster the house bulldog, a small band of regulars congregated each day for more than a decade.

Former blacksmith Ronnie Reid, originally from Forres, began drinking in the High Street bar when he moved into nearby Bede House Court.

Darren Murray started working at the pub shortly after Ronnie passed away.

Manager Darren Murray of St Machar Bar, High Street, Old Aberdeen. Image: Kami Thomson/DC Thomson

“Ronnie died about four years ago. He was a known regular who came in most days and sat in the same seat each day. He ordered a Guinness and liked to switch the telly to his quiz shows.

“If sports were on he apparently had a moan about that. But he was certainly well-loved. It was a previous member of staff who organised to have a plaque placed over Ronnie’s seat.”

Memorial plaque for Ronnie Reid in the St Machar Bar, marking his usual seat. Picture by Kami Thomson/DC Thomson

Memories shared

John, also a regular at St Machar’s, was a neighbour of Ronnie’s.

“Ronnie had originally lived in Torry though he had come from up north. He was a blacksmith and then later was into welding. In his older years, he moved to the housing complex just near here [St Machar’s Bar] and we got to know each other.

A less than ordinary ‘memorial bench’ for Ronnie Reid in the St Machar Bar. Image: Kami Thomson/DC Thomson

“He was quite a character. Liked a laugh, liked to watch his quizzes, but he did get annoyed with the students coming in with their backpacks on. ‘Sherpas’ is what he’d call them. This bar is too narrow to have bags bumping into things and Ronnie would tell them as much.”

Lasting tribute

Following his death, a previous barmaid drew a picture of Ronnie. It was framed alongside an image of a Guinness and placed above his regular seat.

The framed art placed above Ronnie’s regular seat to remember him by. Image: Kami Thomson/DC Thomson

Mark, another of the regulars who knew Ronnie, said not having him in St Machar’s Bar is a big miss.

“He was a good man, was Ronnie. Regular faces are what you come to rely on in places like this.

“The last time we all saw Ronnie was a Saturday night. He came in for a drink and some food to take home, and the next morning he just didn’t wake up.

“Ronnie’s daughter came into the pub to let people know, and I was sent a text. It was a sad day. His funeral took place at the Crematorium in Hazlehead. He was in his early 70s I think. Aye we a’ still miss him.”

Conversation