Murray Chalmers, Music PRBack to Dundee Ambassadors

Murray grew up in the Lochee area of Dundee and moved to London to pursue a career in music PR.  As Director of Publicity for EMI Records for 24 years, he worked with acts such as Radiohead, Coldplay, Kylie Minogue, Lily Allen and the Pet Shop Boys. He now runs his own PR company, Murray Chalmers PR, where he represents all of the above, plus Robbie Williams, Yoko Ono and Sam Taylor-Wood.

Dundee has an incredible aspect. Its location is one of its biggest selling points - I love it. Out of all the other major cities in Britain, I can't think of one with a better situation - the entrance along the water is beautiful.

The whole development of the Riverside really is key to the city's future. People have been cut off from the water and it's time to engage the city with the river. Friends who visit from London can't believe how beautiful the river is and yet it is so under-used.

I work from Dundee as much as I can - it's home. I originally left Dundee to follow bands round in London, then went to study in Edinburgh and ended up back down south for work. If the airport is allowed to flourish and the prices kept at a level that ordinary people could afford then it would benefit the city hugely. Tourism would increase, which would mean that more improved facilities would spring up.

Dundee's music scene was a big part of my life growing up here. Dundee adopted punk - which was my thing - pretty quickly. A lot of the bands that came here were quite underground and used to play venues like the Tayside Bar. There's still a real buzz here - anywhere that has such a brilliant art college is always going to have a strong youth culture.

There's a real opportunity to change the face of Dundee. There are some great examples of good design in Dundee - like the DCA and Maggie's Centre - but there is room for more visionary architecture. The waterfront development could be an incredible opportunity to redress a lot of the problems caused by horrific town planning in previous decades.

There's an amazing sprit here which I don't you think you get anywhere else. Dundonians have a very unique sense of humour that‘s quite sardonic. I think it sums up the city - it has a great wit and a sense of playfulness. The people are also very stoic in the face of adversity. There is a lack of pretension here which is really attractive.

I think art's now as an important as music has always been in Dundee. There's some amazing artistic talent in the city. The art college degree show is absolutely brilliant and some of the students go on to be really successful artists globally. We should celebrate them more. I think this year's degree show in the new space was totally inspiring.

A lot of interesting people have links with Dundee. One of the most respected architects in the world, Kathryn Findlay, is from nearby and has lectured at the university. Jeremy Lee, head chef at London's Blueprint Café, is also from near here. Dundee should use these people's skills - Kathryn Findlay would do an amazing job of the proposed V&A building, for example.

There's some fantastic produce in the local area - like the asparagus from Eassie Farm which supplies restaurants like the River Café. It's interesting that, when Dundee has either the farmer's market or the continental market, they are always thronged with people. It's obvious people want more choice then just the big supermarkets. We should be utilising all the great food producers in the area and connecting them with the consumer. All the disused buildings in the centre should be subsidised so that people can open small shops and restaurants.