Photos: Looking at the changing face of George Street in Aberdeen

George Street in days gone by was a busy shopping street, running north to south into the heart of Aberdeen.

Up until the 1980s, the long uninterrupted thoroughfare stretched from Split the Wind to St Nicholas Street then Union Street beyond.

Trams trundled along its length linking the city centre to Woodside, which was a standalone, semi-rural community back in the early 20th Century.

George Street was famously home to department stores like Isaac Benzies and Arnotts, and independent shops including the original Bruce Millers and The Rubber Shop.

A view of George Street, looking south in the days of the trams, possibly the 1930s? The junction with St Andrew’s Street is at the building on the right with the turret, which would later become Arnotts. The view and buildings to the south disappeared under the Bon Accord Centre. Image: DC Thomson

It also wasn’t short of entertainment venues, with the City Cinema, Grand Central Picture House and a number of pubs dotted along its length.

Like an artery running through the city, connecting to dozens of industrial sites, residential streets and lanes, it provided retail and recreation for Aberdonians for decades.

Changes crept into George Street in the 1960s

One of the biggest changes seen in George Street was when Norco House was built between 1966 and 1970.

In recent years it was better known as John Lewis, who took over the premises in 1989, before the store was shut in 2021.

1969: Aberdeen Northern Co-operative Society’s new headquarters Norco House under construction before opening in 1970. Image: DC Thomson

It was a department store for the Northern Co-operative Society, in place of its headquarters and arcade which ran between Loch Street and Gallowgate.

When the brutalist Norco House opened in 1970, the Edwardian arcade was abandoned, falling into dereliction, before it was eventually demolished as part of the Bon Accord Centre development.

This shopping complex undoubtedly altered the face of George Street forever.

Traders raised concerns about the future of George Street if large-scale demolition across its southern end and nearly all of St Nicholas Street went ahead.

1970s: George Street at its junction with Schoolhill and Upperkirkgate, likely in the 1970s, where The Bon Accord Centre entrance stands now. The opposite junction at St Nicholas Street is now covered by the St Nicholas Centre. Image: DC Thomson

Decades of arguments over large-scale development

It took two decades of wrangling between developers Bredero, shopkeepers and Aberdeen City Council – as well as three public inquiries – before the Bon Accord Centre plans were approved.

But arguments continued to rage until eleventh hour before the major redevelopment began in the autumn of 1986.

Frank Brettle, chairman of the Aberdeen City Centre Association, said: “Bredero will either murder Union Street and other shopping areas, or they will be the biggest white elephant out.”

An Evening Express article in April 1986 said the decisions about George Street and the Bon Accord Centre “will affect everyone in the north-east well into the 21st Century”.

1983: The intersection of George Street and Loch Street before the massive redevelopment of that area of Aberdeen to make way for the Bon Accord Centre. Image: DC Thomson

George Street was effectively stopped up and cut off from the city centre, and many old buildings and businesses were demolished to make way for the shopping centre.

Although popular in its heyday, the Bon Accord Centre has seen a decline after downturns and the pandemic.

But George Street has pinpointed in an ambitious council masterplan to revive and regenerate the city.

In its 100-page masterplan, the council’s vision includes creating more space for people and businesses, pedestrianisation and greenery, to breathe life back into George Street.