On this signboard of this rare old photograph of the Westend Bar is “Robert Craig” Wine merchants. This proved that Robert Craig DID own two bars on Glasgow Road, one at either end. He owned the Clive Place (later to become the Old Original) and this one at the Westend. The Westend bar is not on 1882 map, but IS shown as the current tenement building on 1898 maps, so i can conclude it was built during that 16 year period. (Most likely in the 1890s as its similar to other dated buildings in the street). Ironically, the construction of the Westend Bar, may have given rise to the naming of the Old Original in 1903 , being the site of Craig’s ‘old original pub’, Clive Place. Looking Eastwards, a horse and cart is parked outside the Bar. Men congregate around what is now the cross leading up to Bardykes Road on the right and Glasgow Road in the Foreground. The pub later became the property of the MacNeil family who had ownership of it for many decades until only recently. Today, the building itself is very similar although it has lost a few chimneys over the years. It can be seen just how green Blantyre’s Glasgow Road must have been in the late 1890s with tall trees pictured, no longer there today. Photos are courtesy of Alex Rochead.
