Recreation for the nation: our history of leisure in the UAE

As the UAE has grown as a nation, so have its opportunities for leisure and relaxation. Come with us as we visit the earliest days of fun in the UAE.

Just outside the entrance to the Tourist Club, Electra Electronic Games was a popular destination for children and teenagers from the 1980s. It was set up by the lighting and appliances store Electra, which gave its name to Electra Street, as Zayed the First Street is popularly known. Courtesy Al IttihadShow less

Work hard, play hard. If the country has an unofficial motto, it might be these four words.

The age of prosperity ushered in by oil brought opportunities and wealth for nationals and the thousands of expatriates who flocked here alike.

For both, the end of the working day and the start of the weekend was a chance to enjoy precious hours with family and friends.

In this year’s History Project publication for National Day, we look at how people spent this free time.

From the late 1960s and the following decades, an unprecedented age of leisure arrived in the UAE. It was a striking change from life even a few years earlier, when water had to be dug from sand wells and finding food and shelter was the main preoccupation for most families.

As small towns and villages became major cities, so people’s expectations grew. It is fortunate that the Rulers who steered the nation through those formative years understood the importance of this.

Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the first President of the UAE, in particular, believed passionately that urban living must be more than concrete and tarmac. From the first, Abu ­Dhabi and Al Ain were designed as communities that must live and breathe, with trees and parks for populations to escape the pressures of urban living.

In the following pages, you will see a glimpse of what seems now like a simpler and more innocent way of life, when a picnic under the trees or a day at the beach could provide a lifetime of memories. Recalling the slide in the old Airport Park that emerged from the gaping jaws of a giant crocodile, one colleague smiled, while observing: “Every child in Abu Dhabi must have come out of that mouth.”

It was probably inevitable that Dubai, that growing centre of international commerce, would unveil Leisureland, the country’s first purpose-built place of entertainment and a foretaste of the wonders of Wild Wadi and Ski Dubai. It is still there, for those with a taste for ­nostalgia.

Fond memories are everywhere, too, of the capital’s Tourist Club, which exists now only as a district whose name puzzles new arrivals. Here it was possible to skate for the first time, try out karting or play with the latest wonder – electronic computer games.

As our cover photograph shows, it was a place for every­one. Even the Ruler of the ­nation is entitled to take a little time from the duties of state.

Having a little spare money also made other things possible. Restaurants and cafes became centres for socialising, a family treat or just giving mum a night off from the kitchen.

The fast-food revolution began with an almost forgotten chain of burger bars from the high streets of Britain called Wimpy, but was followed by Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald’s and other burger bars.

Against this tidal wave of waist-expanding, and perhaps artery-stiffening, delights, more local tastes such as shawarma and hummus have held their own.

Then there is what might be described as the UAE’s favourite occupation: shopping. Our feature on the Abu Dhabi souq highlights a remarkable fact; that the same area of the capital has been a centre for trading for centuries.

In its earliest incarnation, the souq was a cluster of palm street huts in which Brahman cattle wandered past the bags of rice and piles of pots and pans. In the new city that sprang up in the 1970s, it was replaced by a purpose-built marketplace where the world came looking for a bargain. Today we have a splendid new souq that includes the newly opened World Trade Center Mall, where you are more likely to find haute couture than ­haggling.

But to enjoy the pleasures of life does not necessarily require a platinum credit card or even a fistful of dirhams. One of the earliest construction projects of the new Abu Dhabi city was the Corniche, a waterfront promenade for the Arabian Gulf to rival those in Mediterranean cities like Beirut. Here, the working man could spend his Fridays enjoying the cooling sea ­breezes, with enough coins to enjoy a Chips Oman sandwich and cup of chai karak.

The expansion and growth of the Corniche in recent years has brought many improvements, most notably the new public beach. But perhaps we can allow the smallest tinge of regret at the passing of the Volcano Fountain, an evocative and splendid attraction and meeting point that still lives large in the memories of many. Perhaps one day, it might reappear in some new project.

For that is one of the defining qualities of the UAE. It is a place that never stands still, even when relaxing. So we can look back with affection at the Volcano Fountain and the Wimpy bars, but also forward to the arrival of the hottest new chef in town, to the new museums on Saadiyat or future pleasures that, even if they cannot yet be imagined, are most certainly coming our way.