Wellgate Centre

The original Wellgate was a thoroughfare that was located between the Hilltown and the Murraygate.

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.

The old Wellgate featured a variety of shops and restaurants which all later closed to make way for the new centre.

In 2023, Leisure and Culture Dundee launched The Wellgate Project which was created to preserve the history and story of the street.[2]

The Wellgate Centre began construction in 1974 and later opened on 4 April 1978. The ornate green lamp post that was situated on top of the Wellgate Steps was retained when the centre was opened.

The centre's opening was met with success as it was the first major indoor shopping centre in Dundee. It became popular with shoppers in Dundee and was the preferred shopping location for Dundonians over the 1960s open-air Overgate and continued to be the case until the demolition and reconstruction of the Overgate in 2000.

The centre was home to the largest Tesco store in Scotland and its opening day had a record number of visitors of any of their stores in the country.

The Wellgate Clock and the Wellgate Fountain were two additions to the centre when it opened in 1978 and became popular among locals and visitors to the centre.

In 1979, a year after opening, the Wellgate became the location of a bomb scare that resulted in the centre being evacuated.[3]

The centre was visited by Doctor Who actor Tom Baker and Coronation Street actor William Roache in November and December 1979 respectively.

The Wellgate Market Hall opened in the centre in the 1980s and was popular among shoppers up until its closure in April 1999.

In July 2013, it was reported that the owners planned to refurbish the centre, including construction of a 900-seat cinema.[4] 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, the plan had been put on hold.

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 wanted to see the Wellgate redeveloped in the near future.[5]

The Wellgate Centre was sold to a private investor in December 2021 on an online auction for £1.4 million, almost triple its guide price which was set at £500,000.[6] Belgate Estates subsequently revealed themselves as the buyer in July 2022 but provided no additional information on plans for the site.[7]

In November 2022, Dundee City Council revealed plans to redevelop the inner city centre with the Wellgate included in the plans. Such proposals included redeveloping and repurposing the shopping centre as a leisure hub. Other plans included partially or fully demolishing the shopping centre where the Wellgate would once again be pedestrianised and returned to a throughfare similar to what the Wellgate was before the opening of the centre in 1978.[8]

As of September 2023, below are the some of the retailers, charity shops and eateries contained within the centre:[10]