THE TRADES HOUSE BAR

The Trades House Bar lives on Nethergate Road in the centre of town across from the Overgate. You may remember it as one of the most beautiful bars you have ever been in. Honestly, cruise ships have nothing on this type of interior design. You may also remember the Trades as one of the best places to get a pint in town as well. The quality of the selection has not been matched yet. Not saying that I’m a beer connoisseur by any means I do have quite a cultivated set of taste buds.

WOOD/ STAINED GLASS/ MOSIAC/ MIRRORS

When you first walk into the Trades you may think that this place has been around for centuries. WRONG! The Trades have only been in operation for about 17 years, originally opened by Blair and Jerry Morrison. Blair and Jerry are famous Dundee publicans. They are known for reclaiming old spaces, giving them a massive facelift and then turning them into very successful pub businesses. Their list of loyal clientele follow them to every pub they open. The building that houses the Trades House Bar was originally a bank. Jerry and Blair completely refurbished the interior. Originally the wanted the bar to be called the Nine Trades Bar but the Nine Incorporated Trades did not approve of having their society name used for the bar. All of the stained glass windows depict different trades that were prevalent in Dundee’s history. Rumor has it that over £200 000 were spent on the windows alone. All the wood cladding were treated by joiners to create the hand carved look. Blair also told me that almost 80% of the work for the Trades House Bar was complete by Dundee trades people.

There is an engraved mirror in one of the snugs that details the old town hall situated in the square behind the Trades. It shows character depictions of the Nine Incorporated Trades Masters and gives a listing of their names.

Unfortunately the Trades have been sold off to Belhaven Bars. Fortunately the current general manager of the Trades House Bar, Bryan Farquar, was an old employee of Jerry and Blair Morrison and continues the legacy and vision of the Morrisons. I am told by regulars now that Bryan has done an exceptional job of retaining the exact feel and reputation that the Trades House has prided itself on for years.

FILMING MORNING TILL NIGHT

To be completely honest I had no idea how to approach the filming aspect of the Trades House Bar. The time I spent in January scouting bars left me with a very good feeling of the bar but I was not inducted into the group of regulars yet; at the time I didn’t even know if there was a group of regulars. The area that the bar is situated in made me believe that there was a lot of passing trade that comes through this venue. I was unsure if there was a community to capture. I was completely wrong.

The first two days I spent between 10am to 11pm at the Trades with my camera and tripod. I captured general space, pans, the density of the location, how the atmosphere changes throughout the day. I took this period to become a part of the furniture. I wanted to make sure that people were very aware of what I was doing and that my presence was a comfortable presence. Eventually I found out where the regulars hung out. I aligned myself with a few of them and suddenly the floodgates opened and a tsunami of stories began. Through these initial contacts I was introduced to more people with more stores giving me meaningful insight into Dundee.

Between 10am to 11am the coffee rush begins! This is a unique time of the day at the Trades where generally an older clientele take up 90% of the seats in the venue. They are impeccably dressed, suits, ties, smart blazers, tweed, silk scarves, paperboy caps, paten leather, and brogues. You can tell they come from a different generation, upkeep, and sensibility. I loved talking to them. They were treasure troves of knowledge and history. Everyone there at one point worked during the height of the Jute Mills. They were the weavers, the twisters, the knotters. They all had their own unique tales. Most of the stories began endearingly with “I remember…” I was told about the conditions of living where a family of six shared two room flat with a shared common toilet outside the flat, no electricity, no running water, and no complaints. It was a completely different world. There was nothing else to compare to. Life was just lived this way. I was also told that the jute mills were predominantly run by women because they had smaller and more precise fingers to do the fine work.

DUNDEE UNITED WINS!

On Saturday of our time in the Trades House Bar the Scottish FA Cup Final Championship was in full swing. Dundee United was playing Ross County for the title. As you can expect the entire city was going mental with expectation. An interesting divide was occurring not only in the Trades House but also throughout all of Dundee. Dundee is one of the only places in the UK, which has two football clubs situated across the road from one another. To make this more confusing the other team is just called Dundee. Though there is a great rivalry between the two teams there seems to be no animosity between the two sets of fans. Saying that though, on that particular Saturday the nervous energy was ripe with half of the city cheering nervously for Dundee United to win and the other half praying for Dundee United to lose. At the end of the day Dundee United won 3-0 and the town exploded tangerine with celebration. It was hard not to get caught up in the pride and happiness. I confess I gave a good whoop when that first goal went in. Fiona (one of my apprentices) need to find clever ways of getting people to explain what just happened with out giving too much away in terms of asking people how they feel about the game results. Our line thus became, “So I hear that Dundee is the sunniest city in Scotland; is that why everyone is wearing orange?”

That night we ended filming at 3:00am at Fat Sams (the official Dundee United sponsors), capturing the craziest night of clubbing ever. I think we body surfed from room to room struggling with a tripod and camera.

Special thanks to the Trades House Bar Staff for accommodating my team and I and lending your creative eye with filming! Thanks to: Bryan Farquar, Karen, Emma, Beth, Jerry, Brian, Mark, Scott, Alan, Jim MP, Brian and Jeanette.