Wellgate Centre
The Wellgate Shopping Centre is one of the two main shopping centres located in the city centre of Dundee, Scotland, the other being the Overgate Centre.
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 The Wellgate Centre in 2007 | |
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| Location | Dundee, Scotland |
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| Coordinates | 56.4643°N 2.9694°W |
| Opening date | April 1978[1] |
| Management | Morag Dennis[2] |
| Owner | Invista Real Estate Investment Management |
| No. of stores and services | 40 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 1 |
| No. of floors | 3 |
| Parking | Multi-storey |
| Website | Wellgate Shopping Centre |
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It comprises two shopping floors and a third floor containing a food court, xercise4less and Dundee Central Library. The centre has a variety of discount retailers, with TJ Hughes, Home Bargains and B&M Bargains operating the largest stores within the centre. Other high-street retailers include Poundland, Savers, Superdrug and Iceland. Prior to its collapse, British Home Stores operated a two-level anchor-store at the entrance of the centre, which has since been occupied by TJ Hughes.
From its early years until the reopening of the largely-rebuilt Overgate Centre in 2000, the Wellgate was Dundee's principal shopping mall.
History
Original Wellgate and construction of the Centre
The centre - whose construction began in the late 1970s - was named after the Wellgate, the thoroughfare that it replaced. It follows the traffic flow of the original Wellgate, which began with a flight of steps at the south end of the Hilltown and then became a street which ended at the junction of the Murraygate and Panmure Street; the two entrances to the Wellgate Centre are at the same locations as those of the original street (with the north entrance having a series of steps).
The 'gate' in Wellgate comes from the Old Norse word 'gata' meaning road or street and has the same origins as the word gait meaning 'to walk'. The street was referred to as 'Wellgate' because it led to a well at the foot of the Hilltown. Gate and gait can often be found in historic and modern street names, normally meaning the same thing and along with the Wellgate, Dundee's compact city centre retains several streets with this characteristic: Cowgate, Marketgait, Murraygate, Nethergate, Overgate and Seagate.
Proposed refurbishment
In July 2013, it was reported that the owners planned to refurbish the centre, including construction of a 900-seat cinema.[3] In March 2014, the BBC reported that an operator had been found for the proposed cinema, and that development work at the site was expected to take place later that year, taking 12 to 18 months to complete. However this plan has been put on hold indefinitely at the moment.
The plan had been brought back in discussion in August 2018 as a new poll was conducted by Dundee City Council for the Evening Telegraph, Dundee's local paper which showed that a strong majority of people want to see the Wellgate redeveloped in the near future.[4]
Stores and occupants
As of December 2019, below are the some of the retailers, charity shops and eateries contained within the centre[5]:
| Ground floor | First floor | Second floor |
|---|---|---|
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References
- http://bygone.dundeecity.gov.uk/bygone-news/april-1978
- https://www.wellgatedundee.co.uk/info/
- "Eight-screen cinema part of 'exciting' Wellgate Centre plans". DC Thomson. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
- "POLL RESULTS: Calls for cinema in the Wellgate amid concerns of decline in Dundee city centre". Evening Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
- "Stores | Wellgate Dundee". Wellgate Shopping Centre. Retrieved 3 December 2019.