- Location: Ebenezer Place, Wick, KW1 5BX
- Opening times: 24 hours
- Entry: Not applicable
- Access: Parking on street
At just 6 feet 9 inches long, or just a nudge over two metres, Ebenezer Place is the shortest street in the world, and is accredited as such by the Guinness Book of Records. That is not much longer than the brown sign that drew my attention to it as I drove through Wick.
When Mackay’s Hotel was built in 1883 it straddled Wick’s River Street and Union Street, but rather than having the sides of the building meet at the junction of these two roads, its builder Alexander Sinclair connected them by a slender facing. The town council of the day decided that this ‘short end’ of the hotel constituted a brand-new street, and instructed Sinclair to give it a name. Ebenezer Place began appearing on town maps as early as 1887. When the hotel’s owners created a new eatery, No. 1 Bistro, in 2006, they built its entrance on Ebenezer Place which was the thoroughfare’s first ever door, which granted it a postal address for the first time in its existence. This snagged the attention of the Guinness Book of Records, who duly awarded Ebenezer Place its shortest street world record status, at the expense of previous holder Elgin Street in Bacup, Lancashire, which at a whopping 17 feet long was positively planetary in comparison.
A warning to the curious: If stopping to take a photograph, remember that Wick’s newest and arguably best-known landmark is on the junction between three, count ‘em, three roads, so care should be taken.
Destination or Diversion?
Despite its appearance in the Guinness Book of Records, Ebenezer Place is no more than a diversion in the Brown Sign Bagger’s book.