Developers have revealed plans to breathe new life into a fondly remembered Aberdeen music shop which has fallen into disrepair.
Music fans from across the north-east flocked to the city centre’s Bruce Millers store from the 1980s until it closed in 2011.
The C-listed building, which was built in 1820, has lain vacant since the shop shut and has fallen victim to the elements in those seven years.
Work begins on plans to turn beloved Bruce Millers music shop into flats
Owners OCM Luxembourg, a hotel company with properties across Europe, have now applied for permission to restore the three-storey 363 Union Street site so that it could “accommodate a variety of different potential future uses”.
The firm suggests that, once the proposed renovation is complete, the building could be put to use as flats or offices, or revived as a shop.
An application submitted by Aberdeen-based Aurora Planning explains that the firm wants to “upgrade” the building to make it more sympathetic with those surrounding it.
Papers tendered to Aberdeen City Council state: “Key features of the historic property will be retained and enhanced as part of all works as practicably possible.
“The frontage of the building has been altered to create a modern shop front, and this application seeks to reinstate a more sympathetic ground floor front entrance in its place.
“It is anticipated that, by restoring the building, a suitable alternative use can be identified which will bring it back into productive use, ensuring its long-term sustainability.”
Modern extensions to the rear of the building, which were used as a warehouse and tuition area, will be demolished as part of the scheme.
But planners say that its well-known clock, which is designed to look like a drum, will be retained and restored as “an object of local interest” which “adds visual interest to the street scene”.
The Bruce Millers shop on Union Street had a legacy stretching back more than 100 years, to when Charles Bruce Miller opened his first store on George Street.
