1978 Glasgow Road at Alpine Street

1978 Glasgow Road at its junction with former Alpine Street.

Continuing the series of colour photos of the redevelopment of Glasgow Road. This photo is of Glasgow Road at its junction with the former Alpine Street. The direction is looking towards Burnbank.

The people of Blantyre must have had a heavy heart to have seen so many buildings either been demolished by this time, or boarded up waiting for demolition.  You can almost sense the bewilderment of the lady out shopping, as she gazes at the camera.

To the right, the masonic hall building, which also accommodated several shops. The Priory Pub just out the picture on the right at the bottom of Logan Street. John Street leading off to the left at the background was re-aligned more to where the pole is to the right of the women’s head. To put this in a modern context, the street in the foreground, no longer there would be where the small planted area is in front of the Sports Centre. The scene today is entirely different and is difficult to visualise if you had never lived in this era. Being a High Blantyre man, I have many 1970’s memories of Stonefield and Glasgow Road, but strangely not too many of the area in the distance where Clark and Forrest street were.

On social media:

• Thomas Fallon The redevelopment of Glasgow road should that not read the destruction of Glasgow road Blantyre the heart and soul was ripped out of Blantyre and we only have ourselves to blame for letting the council then and now to treat the people of Blantyre like second class citizens
  • The Blantyre Project It would NEVER have been allowed to happen had it been today. Asda would have ended up on the outskirts somewhere in a retail park. Such a shame. Photos of Glasgow Road in the 1960s and 70s must look so foreign to our young generation now. I accept a few may have been damaged by mine workings, but in general, some of these buildings could easily have still been standing today.
• The Blantyre Project Photo is from Summer 1978.
• Marian Maguire Yes so many beautiful buildings destroyed.
• Gerry Walker Having been born in Rosendale with outside communal toilets and very little room on the inside for living accomodation my thoughts now are of those type of tenements were`nt fit for purpose and other than sentimental purposes I don`t think that style of housing would be sorely missed.
  • The Blantyre Project thats especially true for the Rosendale building itself, which definitely was at the end of its sell by date. The roof leaked, it was damp and people had protested to the council for improvement through organised marches.
• Thomas Barrett there was never any investment in Blantyre buildings lay empty for years until asda came along.
• Archie Peat Was that not ” McAlpine Street ” certainly the building on the corner was known as McAlpines Building ???
  • The Blantyre Project It was Alpine Street. McAlpines buildings were nearby and most likely the source of the name.
• Mary Boyle Are you sure the photo is as late as 1978. My Aunt lived in Church Street until 1973. From the buildings and cars parked I would have placed this photo 1972.
  • The Blantyre Project Photo is confirmed as are the ones yesterday and to follow as 1978.
  • The Blantyre Project taken on the same day as the boarded up homes at Church Street in yesterdays photo. This series of photos were Glasgow Road buildings captured in their final months.
  • Mary Boyle Thanks for clarifying this. Helpful 
  • Stephen Allan My mum first came to Blantyre when she was 16 in 1973 when my gran and grandpa moved into Gordon Terrace at the top of Prioey Bridge estate. A few years later she married my dad in 1977 and their first house was in Shawlands in Glasgow and then their second house was in Kings Park and then in 1983 my mum moved back to blantyre with my dad and moved into a house at the bottom of Priory Bridge estate in Kirkwall Avenue where we live now and then in December of 1984 I was born . She does say that when she first moved to Blantyre in 1973 that a lot of the buildings were derelict. That is probably why they were eventually knocked down.
• Andrew McCutcheon My old man used to deliver to a factory in Blantyre, used to drive for a dyers and finishers.
• Orlando Ancilotti It was horrible. But the council had played the game and allowed the street to become very rundown and, at the time, quite a few people were glad to see the boarded up buildings go.
  • The Blantyre Project A good point Orlando. Those buildings may have been boarded up for a long, long time.
• Arlene Campbell I remember leaving the park from around this area and coming past the old shops as a very young girl
• Carol Crombie Vaguely remember it as out of shot to the left was the Royal Bank and the chemist and butchers