Nuart Aberdeen mural makes way for new Indoor Market
Such is the transient nature of street art that one minute it’s here and the next it’s gone. Sadly, in March one of Nuart Aberdeen’s most iconic street art murals was the latest to vanish from the city’s walls as the work to reimagine the Aberdeen Indoor Market saw the building demolished.
The piece was part of the city’s first Nuart Aberdeen Festival in 2017 and quickly became an iconic and much-loved landmark for the city. Spreading a positive message of empowerment and encouragement, the mural read “Don’t hide…because you are that light”.
While the mural may be gone, there is still plenty to discover down on the Green, including a variety of fantastic independent shops, cafes and restaurants, as well as the world class artwork by Smug, Isaac Cordal, Jan Vormann, EVOL and more.
Commenting on this, Adrian Watson, Chief Executive of Aberdeen Inspired said: "Like so many others we are sad to see this iconic piece by Herakut come down, their work sparked an overwhelming and jubilant atmosphere in the city.
"Over a period of five years, the girl gazed out upon tens of thousands of residents and visitors who wandered down to the Green to see this particular piece or gathered to enjoy subsequent Nuart Aberdeen festivals, walking tours and the Inspired Nights street food and music events.
"We are incredibly grateful to the artists for producing such a powerful and beautiful piece that has added cultural richness to the city.”
The festival is set to make a welcome return to the city this summer.
Watch a time lapse video of the demolition here.
Could you sponsor a mini ADHD umbrella installation for a city school?
We are incredibly grateful to companies including Tess, PWC, Torus BGP and Union Square who have stepped forward to sponsor a local school who were unable to secure the funds for mini umbrella installation as part of the ADHD Umbrella Project coming to Aberdeen for the first time this summer.
One such school was Orchard Brae, where they work with almost a 160 youngsters who require specialist provision. Karen Gebbie-Smith, Head Teacher at Orchard Brae said “We are so grateful to Torus BGP for making this happen for us. We look forward to our umbrellas and the magic that will happen under them!”
The closing date for schools to register has passed but we are working closely with the ADHD Foundation and local schools to ensure as many schools who wish to share in this summer’s Neurodiversity Celebrations have the opportunity to take part, so we have one last day to place orders.
Skene Square Primary school is still hoping to raise the £350 required. If you think your business could sponsor a mini umbrella installation for the school, we would love to hear from you! Get in touch here.
Aberdeen Restaurant Week – we want your feedback!
Aberdeen Restaurant Week might be over, but we want to hear your thoughts! A huge thank you again to all the businesses who took part, our ambassadors and of course the people of Aberdeen who ventured out to dine.
Looking forward, we would like to get your views to help us shape the next event. So, if you were a member of the public who dined out during ARW, please take our public survey. We are also hosting a prize draw to win a £50 Aberdeen Gift Card, so be sure to make your thoughts heard! Survey closes Friday 8 April.
If you are a restaurant who wants to sign up for the next edition of ARW, please notify us of your interest by clicking here.
New basement bar opens!
Earlier this month the duo behind Aberdeen’s Olive Alexanders, Emily Hailstones and Hayley Fisher opened the doors to the cool new basement cocktail venue, Barbelow.
Serving cocktails, organic wine & small plates you can find them at 8 Golden Square, open Tuesday to Sunday.
Travel agent Kuoni opens new shop on Back Wynd
Demand for overseas holidays has prompted worldwide travel company Kuoni to open a new shop on Back Wynd in the centre of Aberdeen.
Kuoni originally came to Aberdeen in 2013 when it opened within the city’s John Lewis store, but closed a year ago when John Lewis & Partners announced shop closures alongside its own business review.
The new store will be staffed by three well-travelled experts, managed by Chris Winpenny-Cushine. Chris told us “It’s great to be opening our store in Aberdeen again. It’s been a year since we closed our store within John Lewis, so for the past year the Aberdeen team has been working from home with our virtual call centre. We’ve continued to use our travel expertise to reshape and plan travel for our customers, so we’ve stayed with the business throughout. We are a trusted brand and have always had very loyal customers so felt confident that opening our own store would be a great opportunity just as travel is taking off again.”
“It will be amazing to have our regular customers and new customers back in-store planning their next holiday. We can’t wait to open the doors and welcome everyone back.”
OGV Taproom Beer Festival
The Aberdeen Craft Beer Festival at OGV Taproom is a celebration of craft beer and Aberdeen's finest food vendors and musicians, running from Friday 8 April to Saturday 9 April.
The 2-day festival offers you the chance to try over 80 delicious beers from several local and further afield breweries, all while enjoying great local food accompanied by live bands, solo artists and DJ's.
Breweries confirmed include 71Brewing, Brewtoon, Burnside Brewery, Cullach Brewing, MOR beers, OGV, Spey Valley, Mad Bush and Vault City with more to be announced in the next week! There will also be gin from their partners at the House of Botanicals.
Book your tickets here.
Maggie's to move into Marischal Square
Much-loved local restaurant, Maggie's Grill, is to bring its home-cooked field-to-fork soul food to Marischal Square – filling the last empty leisure space at the development.
Maggie’s Grill, which will be retaining its Holburn Street premises as a neighbourhood restaurant, is due to open in the Spring bringing favourites from America’s Deep South to the east end of Aberdeen’s city centre.
The restaurant will be in the former Prezzo site in the Marischal Square development which includes two city centre office buildings providing 173,500 sq ft of Grade ‘A’ office space with secure parking, seven restaurants and café bar spaces occupying the ground floor space, and a 126-room Residence Inn by Marriott.
Read more here.
Two more incredible acts announced for AICF 2022!
Just when you think the line-up to Aberdeen International Comedy Festival couldn’t get any better, we announce two more incredible acts!
One of the biggest names in the UK comedy circuit, Daniel Sloss, will take to the Music Hall stage on Friday 14 October along with some of his super-stand up friends for one night of cracking comedy! Also joining the line-up is Jerry Sadowitz who is notorious for his frequently controversial brand of dark comedy. He will take to the Tivoli Theatre stage on Friday 14 October – make sure you leave the kids at home for this one!
The comedy festival will run at a multitude of city venues, bars and clubs over the course of 11 days from Thursday 6 October until Sunday 16 October 2022. More acts will be announced soon, so keep your eyes peeled! Check out the #AICF2022 line-up so far here.
NESCol – Flexible Workforce Development Fund
NESCol has obtained funding from the Scottish Government available for SME's to upskill or support their staff. Up to £5,000 worth of funded training is available per employer.
There are many learning areas to choose from such as Social Media Skills for Business, First Aid, Food Hygiene & Customer Service courses. The courses are available in person and online and most are only one day courses. NESCol have already helped over 100 employers across the North East region to access funded training, such as Garioch Heritage Centre and Ocura Healthcare Ltd.
BID businesses are encouraged to take advantage of this funding by getting in touch here & read more here.
Dine in the Dark with Namaste Delhi
Namaste Delhi and NESS (North East Sensory Services) have joined hands to bring an extraordinary charity event to the city, kindly sponsored by Specsavers.
For this event, customers will be either blindfolded or deafened through the use of special headphones. The ‘Dine in the Dark’ event consists of a two-course meal and a drink and will take place on Thursday 21 April from 6.30pm. The evening will not only consist of brilliant Indian food but you’ll get the opportunity to experience what dining out may be like with sight and/or hearing loss
Find out more here.
City Centre Clean Up
The Aberdeen City Council Services Operations team, led by David Burnett, have been hard at work the past few weeks making our city centre sparkle!
As well as cleaning up the streets and emptying bins they have been busy removing graffiti, chewing gum and unwanted posters and stickers. They have 7 days a week presence in the BID and do a fantastic job at keeping our streets clean!
The City Centre Manager continues to work closely with the team, to influence activity on behalf of our levy payers, and he will be present at our BID network meetings to discuss any local issues that you may have.
Trinity Shopping Centre scoops ‘Loo of the Year’ Awards 2022
Trinity Centre Aberdeen has won acclaim for the quality and standards of its toilets – in the Loo of the Year Awards 2022.
The awards are aimed at highlighting and improving standards of 'away from home' toilets and Loo of the Year Awards inspectors make unannounced visits to thousands of toilets at sites across the UK in order to judge them.
Trinity Shopping Centre Manager, Linda Stewart commented: "We are delighted with the award. Our dedicated staff ensures the toilets are in first-class condition at all times and we are thrilled that this has been recognised by the inspectors."
Step into wonderland with Thistle Events
Thistle Events, a group of 4th year Events Management students at RGU, are organising Mad Hatter Afternoon Tea on Sunday 10 April in aid of Befriend a Child. Befriend a Child is a charitable organisation that helps children and young people in Aberdeen City and Shire who have been living in difficult life circumstances.
The event will be held at OGV Taproom, and tickets for the event are £25. Included within the ticket is food from The Sandwich Larder, entertainment from Inverted: Circus & Pole Fitness, Aberdeen University Circus Society and the host & magician for the afternoon is Garry Seagraves!
100% of the ticket money raised goes to Befriend a Child. Find out more & book tickets here.
Get involved with the Aberdeen Gift Card Scheme
With over 200 businesses in Aberdeen City already signed up, the Aberdeen Gift Card is delivering a much-needed boost directly back into local economy. Several new businesses have recently joined the free scheme including:
- Belmont Filmhouse
- Schuh
-Craigdon Mountain Sports
-Lakeland
-Aberdeen Arts Centre
Funded by Aberdeen Inspired the scheme is free to join and does not cost your business or the consumer anything, it’s simply another payment method for the goods, services or products your business sells. Research shows that on average people spend 40% more on top of the value of their card when they redeem it and that their likelihood of becoming a repeat customer is over 50%.
If you’d like to sign your business up to be part of scheme, then simply click here and we will do the rest!
To check out the full list of businesses who accept the card, click here.
Aberdeen City Libraries extend opening hours
Following the latest update to Scotland’s Strategic Framework COVID-19 Guidance, Aberdeen City Libraries are extending the opening hours of several libraries as of Monday 28 March
Aberdeen City Libraries continue to provide their Click and Collect service, Home Library Service and maintain full access to their wide range of digital online resources including eBooks and eNewspapers.
Read more & find out about the new opening hours here.
Meet the Locals
Last week, we launched our ‘Meet the Locals’ campaign on our social media channels. The aim of this is to shine the spotlight on our local businesses and the people who run them and encourage the people of Aberdeen to come into the city centre!
So far we have caught up with The Greenhouse & Haigs to discuss what is going on within their businesses as well as their plans for the future. If you are a business in Aberdeen City Centre and want to be featured in our ‘Meet the Locals’ campaign, please get in touch here.
TAG US!
Are you a business in the city centre who wants to be featured on our social channels? Make sure to tag us, it makes it so much easier for us to find and share your content!
Make sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter at @abdninspired.