Meet the man who’s making Dundee the greatest city in the world

In March The Jute Journal was able to sit down with Alex Watson, most people know him by his social handle, Eck Ent.  As Alex describes it himself he spends most days trying to make Dundee the greatest city in the world, he does this through litter picking, landscaping, helping local communities and small businesses in Dundee.

Alex is filling gaps the council can’t cover on its current budget. Despite that, he’s had pushback from local governments trying to stop him. Despite that his enthusiasm comes through clearly.  

“I’m just a community enthusiast and Events Coordinator… I’m just trying to elevate Dundee to just take it up a notch.”

Alex has been making a difference in Dundee since January and over the last 5 months he has amassed 25 thousand followers on Instagram. Alex shares his story through his reels, that often get 20-50 thousand views with his most popular reel currently at 620,000 views. He holds a positive attitude that I feel viewers are drawn to. When we met with Alex he was at around 15 thousand followers, and it was rapidly increasing. Alex has a large following of people from Dundee which he said the following about: 

“It’s always been my favourite city in Scotland. I’ve been to every city, been a majority of the towns… and always had a soft spot for Dundee.”

“Here, nothing but open arms, nothing but people offer me help… people wanting to see, because no one actually ever asked me, ‘What are you doing? What’s the goal here?’“

Alex told us he ran into trouble in Montrose after doing similar clean-up work to what he’s doing in Dundee, work that cost him his business, his home and people close to him. He says the experience is a large part of why he is so enthusiastic and has a positive outlook to every challenge he faces.

“My attitude is indestructible. No matter where, if I ended up in jail, I would look at it as a positive experience. I could get a degree, I could learn a language, I could do all kinds of things. It doesn’t have to be a negative thing.”

“I’m in the shit. I’ve lost everything. But that doesn’t give me a right to make things worse. Just because you’re having a bad day doesn’t give you the right to make the city a worse place, to badmouth someone, to put somebody down. I’m all about positivity.”

We spoke about the image of Dundee often being negative to people who have never visited. Many opinions are shaped by what they see online where hateful content spreads more easily, a large contributor to this being Rebreak ‘news’.

“People honestly think that this is like some post-apocalyptic [place] outside of the city centre… It’s not as bad as people think. It’s nowhere near as bad as people think.”

“We’re not trying to whitewash and say Dundee’s some absolute haven utopia where no crime ever happens, of course it’s there.”

Alex spoke very positively on his time in Dundee, originally he was going to travel across the country and not stay in Dundee long however he loved the place so much he decided to stay.

Alex seen here on the left.

“Dundee is not, you know, [a] metropolis, but there’s loads of places I’ve never been before… I just stumbled across this little hidden gem. And obviously I’m into events, so whenever I see a space like that, my mind just starts ticking over.”

“All these little pockets [of] positive things that are going on. I’m just wandering around, just trying to showcase that.”

Alex wants to expand his socials into an entertainment brand, running events around Dundee and building community. Events focused around sports, particularly football seem to be Alex’s focus as he already sponsors two football teams.

“Small, niche, quirky events done to a high standard. That’s where I want to take this… I’m trying to combine sports and art into [a] symbiotic experience.”

“Think big. Even if it goes a bit tits up, that’s the whole point. We’ll figure things out. I’ll meet the people who do want to get involved.”

Alex spoke about his big dreams for the future but also about why people are connecting with the message he sends out currently.

“We all have one thing in common, we want to live somewhere that’s clean and with stuff going on. That’s literally what I’m all about.”

“Somebody is willing to go out, do something nice for nothing. That’s what it’s all about. I’m trying to show people you can go out there and do these things for free.“

While talking to Alex it’s hard to not come away with his infectious optimism. The city he describes, the people willing to help those around them and the pockets of inspiration is a city that many see in a negative light. Dundee needs more people like Alex and he proves that you don’t need permission, a budget or a job title to make this place better. You just need to show up, to make this city we love a better place.