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David Knight: Dichotomy of good and bad news over Aberdeen M&S change is a rollercoaster

Aberdeen's M&S closure is a hammer blow. Some might go further and call it the final straw for that part of the city.

M&S says its St Nicholas Street staff will be given new jobs at the Union Square superstore. Image: Andy Rain/EPA/Shutterstock
M&S says its St Nicholas Street staff will be given new jobs at the Union Square superstore. Image: Andy Rain/EPA/Shutterstock

I didn’t have any inkling of the storm that was about to be unleashed as I went into battle with Marks and Spencer over a carton of soup.

I locked horns with their customer service department and a flurry of emails ensued, flying between our battle lines like missiles.

By the next morning, M&S had announced it was closing its one-time flagship food and clothing store, which adjoins the Bon Accord centre off Union Street in the heart of Aberdeen. It’s got nothing to do with me and the soup, honest.

It was ironic, though, because both events – one momentous, the other mundane – left an unpleasant taste in the mouth.

Announcing the closure of the St Nicholas Street store was shocking due to its sheer magnitude, though not totally surprising.

There were persistent rumours over a number of months that the outlet anchored to Bon Accord was lined up for the chop by the retail giant. But it was still a hammer blow.

Some might go further and call it the final straw for this part of the city. The metaphorical flag in flagship was well and truly in tatters.

The Bon Accord mall has been battered black and blue in recent times by some of the star names of retail jumping ship. The Disney store vacated as fast as Buzz Lightyear during lockdown.

If it was an ancient fortress, we might say Bon Accord has lost its twin towers. Flanking its George Street entrance lies the carcass of the former John Lewis store – evidence of a previous retail catastrophe after the company pulled out.

Now, on the Union Street side, Marks and Spencer is following suit.

Timing couldn’t be worse for Union Street

The timing couldn’t be worse; particularly painful, as we have seen a major public campaign launched in recent times to save Union Street from oblivion.

This once majestic street was the result of an astounding 19th century civil engineering project which was pushed through by visionaries in the face of stiff opposition and warnings it would bankrupt the city.

The vision held sway, and the result was a prestigious main street to be proud of, attracting some of the best-known retail brands and hordes of visitors. Sadly, it has declined rapidly over the past 20 years.

A shadow of her former self: Aberdeen’s jewel in the crown is now tarnished and decaying. There are all sorts of economic and local planning reasons for this sorry state of affairs.

Union Street today is a shadow of its former, bustling self. Image: DC Thomson

The fact that Our Union Street campaign leaders appear to be on the backfoot as they strive to revive Union Street shows how much past inertia is still outstripping these latest efforts.

Some of those directing Aberdeen’s transformation over the years had the vision of an M&S potato salad. They fiddled while Rome burned.

The problem was that they could never make up their minds about what to do with this once great street.

A measure of recent failure is that the main talking point about the city centre these days is the hated bus gates and other strict traffic restrictions recently imposed by Aberdeen council.

They are hemming Union Street in like a straitjacket. So much so that small, independent family businesses around these zones are being driven to the wall.

Good and bad news at the same time

There is another more obvious player in the demise of Union Street, of course. A young pretender to the flagship shopping crown: Union Square.

This rival, new-look shopping mall has been a spectacular success, and changed the purchasing pattern of the city – leaving the Bon Accord a little flat-footed.

Now, the newcomer has pulled off an extraordinary coup by attracting M&S to invest millions on transforming its existing Union Square premises into a superstore, and transferring staff across from the St Nicholas Street branch.

It shows a commitment and belief in Aberdeen from M&S. Remember, John Lewis simply cut and ran

This would create a megastore, along the lines of what we saw in London in a recent M&S documentary, and on a par with the brand’s biggest outlets in large English cities, such as Birmingham and Liverpool.

All of us in the north-east should be delighted about this; it shows a commitment and belief in Aberdeen from M&S. Remember, John Lewis simply cut and ran.

So, the dichotomy here is that it is good and bad news all at the same time.

We should celebrate Union Square’s good fortune and the benefits it brings for shoppers, but bemoan another blow for Union Street and the Bon Accord centre.

Aberdeen’s flagship M&S shop has been open since 1944. Image: Kami Thomson/DC Thomson

Surely drastic special-status regeneration measures such as cash incentives and grants have to be explored by the council and Scottish and UK Governments as a matter of urgency?

Shop giants like M&S don’t become great without attention to detail. So, all I would ask is that they look again at their “Chunky Chicken and Chorizo” soup – because the carton I bought in Aberdeen was notable for the absence of either: not a sliver.

I would be very grateful, thanks.


David Knight is the long-serving former deputy editor of The Press and Journal

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