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The Courier
30-05-2025
- Business
- The Courier
Broughty Ferry's Brook Street is thriving. What's the secret?
New data gathered by The Courier reveals that Brook Street in Broughty Ferry boasts a vacancy rate of 4.4% – well below the Dundee city average of 18.7%. As of May 2025, only four out of 94 units on the street were unoccupied. Not only is the area performing well compared to Dundee city centre, but it also shows stronger results when compared to Aberdeen, where the average vacancy rate stands at 19.4%, Perth, where it is 16.9%, and Inverness, where it is 10.7%. All of these statistics are based on DC Thomson high street trackers. The national picture is also positive. According to the most recent data from the Scottish Retail Consortium, gathered in 2023, the average vacancy rate across Scotland stands at 15.7%. Brook Street may be less vacant than Dundee city centre, but it is pretty equally matched when it comes to independent businesses, with 70% (63 of 90) of its occupied units being independent. In 2024, the Courier found that 69.05% of Dundee's occupied units were independent. While Brook Street exceeded the city centre average, it trailed behind streets like Union Street (96%) and Perth Road (88%). So, what is the secret to Brook Street in Broughty Ferry's success when it comes to its low vacancy rate? John Kerr, chairman of the Broughty Ferry Traders' Association – which is responsible for Gala Week and the Christmas lights switch-on – says that the area benefits from its 'historic affluence'. He explains: 'There's good community, great housing, great schooling and there's a beautiful location here. 'It's served very well by the aesthetics of where it is positioned within the north east as well. 'And let's not also forget the fact that within Broughty Ferry and Dundee and the north east itself, we enjoy this beautiful climatic ecosystem, which extends the summer days.' Businessman John, who owns 45 Black Hound Distillery in Douglas with his wife Kerrie, says that Brook Street is also boosted by its easy-to-access location. '[Brook Street] is greatly positioned with regard to housing,' he says. '[There is a] natural sort of relationship of how people migrate from where they live into the town and into Brook Street itself. 'Its relationship with bus routes [and] its relationship with the train station gives fantastic access from – not only the locals and those who can get access to it directly – but incoming footfall from neighbouring places such as Montrose, Arbroath and obviously Dundee and Perth.' Amber Cochrane, who opened real estate business Verdala on Brook Street with Scott Bremner in 2020, thinks much of its success is down to the strong community. She says: 'Broughty Ferry has become a hub, and it's become very centralised, and it's very focused on businesses supporting one another, and it feels very friendly. 'The businesses are all very approachable, and I think that's got quite a big part to do with it.' Amber, who looks after communications at the Traders' Association, believes that plentiful free on-street parking in the area (something that is not so readily available in Dundee city centre) also helps businesses thrive. 'We often have conversations at the Traders' about the ease that parking provides for nipping into shops,' she says. 'Locals can get everything from last-minute panic presents to a full summer BBQ.' The Traders' have commissioned a survey to be conducted by industry experts at Strathclyde University this summer to track the impact of this readily available parking on business success. This comes as Dundee City Council mulls over on-street parking charges. The £18m Broughty Ferry active route has also helped to boost general footfall in the area, Amber says. 'The whole development of the Esplanade, I feel, particularly from the tourism perspective, has really added to Brook Street. The Courier's data reveals that the majority of occupied units on Brook Street are shops (40%), while only 23.3% are food and drink establishments. In contrast, across the city centre's high streets, an average of 29.5% are shops and 37.2% are food and drink venues. Specifically in terms of independent businesses, of all the shops on the Dundee high streets in March 2024, only 56.8% were independent. Meanwhile, in Broughty Ferry, 63.8% of shops were independent. But of the food and drink units, 76.2% were independent in Broughty Ferry, while in Dundee city centre, 83.8% were independent. One independent food and drink venue on Brook Street is The Selkie. Kelly-Anne Fairweather, who owns a restaurant of the same name on Exchange Street in Dundee city centre, opened the Broughty Ferry eatery in 2023. Why did the restaurateur, who also runs nearby Sol Y Sombra on Gray Street, choose Brook Street for her business? 'The unit was empty for eight years before we went into it, ' she says. 'So it was a bit of a gamble. 'But for us, it was about being part of the independent-type vibe. 'And for us, the demographic of who was using that street was quite important. 'It was predominantly women 35 plus who were shopping in Broughty Ferry. 'We know that's our target market – [people with] a little bit more disposable income.' Kelly-Anne also feels that Broughty Ferry attracts people who are looking for an 'experience'. It's not just about spending money. 'It's a sunrise-to-sunset kind of place,' she explains. 'You can go for a coffee at half seven in the morning, whether that's Gracies or whatever. 'And then you can be in the pub, or somewhere like Sol y Sombra, until midnight. 'And then amongst that, it's got everything you need. And Broughty Ferry is always attracting new businesses. Derek McCammon opened his furniture store, The Living Room, on Brook Street in May 2024. How has his first year in business been? 'It has been a lot better than I anticipated it was going to be,' he says. 'The local people have been fantastic: really, really supportive.' Derek adds that Broughty Ferry's reputation as a tourist destination also boosts footfall. 'I've also had quite a lot of customers coming from as far away as Aberdeen, Inverness and Stirlingshire, as well as people who are up on holiday from England. 'So Broughty Ferry is drawing in quite a crowd from all over, which is lovely.' All data is gathered on foot by DC Thomson reporters and analysed by its data team, which means that it may be subject to some human error. Each occupied business was manually checked to determine whether it was an independent business or a chain. Businesses with multiple locations were deemed independent if they were only based in Scotland and/or were specifically registered to Tayside addresses. Otherwise, they had a single location, which again was registered within Scotland.
Daily Record
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Strathaven is set for a packed week of gala events
The popular Gala Duck Race will be on Monday, June 9. The countdown is on to Strathaven Gala, with a packed week of events building up to the big day on Saturday, June 14. This year's gala programme is now on sale with full details of everything happening, leading up to the crowning of 2025 Gala Queen Cara McClean, accompanied by her Champion Zack Dale. Programmes are now available from Craigs Newsagent, Scotmid, Strathaven Tea Room, Barrie Shelter, Strathaven Library, The Heron and The Old Smiddy. Ducks for the Gala Duck race (Monday, June 9) are also now available from Craigs Newsagents – you can also sponsor a duck before the race at the bandstand in the George Allan Park, full details in the programme. On Sunday, June 8, over 50 teams will be making a splash to start Gala Week by taking part in the raft race at Craig Bridge – the first race gets under way at 12.30pm. If you'd like to get involved, email strathavengala@ *Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
