Spiers Laun, Kirkton

One of the oldest ever photographs of Blantyre and one of my favourites! This was taken in the 1880’s making it well over 130 years old! Pictured is just after the Main Street top cross with the old Station cafe on the left hand side and the entrance to Douglas Street just out of picture on the right.

I have scanned this photo in ultra high resolution allowing you to click on it to see the detail.

The scene is very different now with just the width of the road remaining. To put the scene further in context, Carrigans pub would now be on the left hand side of the forefront of the photo and the picture looks Eastwards down Main Street towards the shops.

The buildings on the left were known as Spiers Laun. This was an impressive building by Blantyre standards at the time. It was the true “shopping mall” of its time. Designed by local Architect Robert Thompson the building contained not only the Station Cafe, but had Malcolms fruit shop, William Wilson the tailor, butchers, barbers as well as 3 or 4 houses. In the 1880’s School Lane ran between the restaurant and Logan’s pub (now Carrigans)