How strangely familiar, yet different.
This is the scene going back 37 years at Clydeview Shopping Centre at the Asda Cafe. The old orange signage putting some nostalgia into the photo, as is the view across to a park, which even then in 1983 was still nicely kept.
It was a time when the brick planters actually had plants and trees in them, which initially did make the whole place look softer and greener. They rapidly were removed in the subsequent years. Even then in 1983, the background has shutters down, a sign of things to come.
This was modernisation. The price of progress. Let’s be clear though. It was also a time when many, many residents greatly welcomed the arrival of ASDA, its convenience and jobs it brought. It provided significant employment opportunities from the moment it opened. Looking back at this established scene, it’s hard to imagine the rows of tenement shops that once were on Glasgow Road only 4 or 5 years earlier.
This part of the shopping centre still exists today but in my opinion is a far cry from being the town centre Blantyre badly needs.