Now little more that a lane to the back of a few buildings on King Street and a huge bleak wall forming part of Wilkinsons in the Market lace, this little Alley has none of its former character.
There is now only one way into Union Alley, that is from the Market Place itself under the flat arch created by the what is now the Market View Restaurant abutting what used to be the City of Durham pub. The City of Durham closed in 2005 and is now Alderman's Coffee House. The low single story building which is the side of the coffee shop still has the look of a public house about it.
Next along is the back of what was Woolworth's. This building was built after the war and opened on 21st August 1950 after the original Woolworth's building on King Street was destroyed during the bombing of the town centre on 2nd October 1941.
At the very end of the Alley on the Southern side is the back of another of the great but now alas closed King Street shops, Marks and Spencer. Another sad demise, opened in 1934 and surviving the blitz, the shop finally succumbed to the recession and "corporate streamlining" and closed it's doors in March 2014. The building, now with Grade II listed status was once the "New Theatre".
At the far Eastern end of the Alley and looking back towards the Market Place we can see that the Northern side is now nothing more than a storage area and carpark for the Market Traders and the side wall of Wilkinson's shop.
