Hasties Farm

Lon McIlwraith has shared this photo, which you may have seen before, but perhaps not in this great detail.

Providing some exclusive good detail about Hasties, Lon messaged, “This is a well-known picture of Hasties Farm, taken from the waste ground on the opposite side of Victoria Street. This was scanned from a large print, and a lot of detail can be seen. The nearer section of roof from the second chimney to the street is the old original roof from the true farm days. The slates are a bit crooked in places and the ridge flashing is missing a few sections.

The roof beyond the second chimney is the new one installed after the 1975 fire. The small car at the far end of the yard was a red Hillman Imp owned by one of the barmaids. Just before that, against the wall, is the potato peeling machine. One of my weekend jobs was to operate this contraption, then put the spuds through the chipping machine, in preparation for the busy weekend kitchens.

The small building extension at the right was built to house the Front Room ladies’ and men’s toilets. The tall white chimney was for the Front Room fireplace.

The large door under the sign was the original entry to the café when it first opened. It wasn’t used as an entryway when the café became a licensed restaurant. To the left of this door are two windows, followed by a large opening. This was one of the barn door openings, but had a paneled window double door similar to the front one.

The next opening was the main entry door to Hasties Farm. Through this door to the right was another door leading to the Front Room; to the left a passage led to the Middle Room. The Middle Room had a few tables and chairs, the cloakroom, and a desk where cigarettes and other sundries were sold. The entry to the office was off the middle room. The office door actually had “Oafis” painted on it. The exit doors had “Oot” instead of “Exit”.

Beyond the Middle Room was the corridor leading to the Big Room, or Back Room. This was the main function hall. It had the Middle Bar and Kitchen, opposite one another at the end of the corridor, and at the far end the Back Bar and Back Kitchen.

In the background are many gables and chimneys on Glasgow Road.”

Featuring Blantyre Project Social Media with permission. Strictly not for use by others on or offline, our visitors said,