Ah, the changing face of Blantyre. Going back now to 1983 and on the north side of Glasgow Road, these pictures show the newly built St Andrews Church. Located at the corner of Church Street and Elm Street junctions of Glasgow Road, these photos were taken not long after the building was constructed. The grassy, soft landscaping still to grow.

In the background is the Masonic Lodge. When the Masonic Buildings further west along Glasgow Road were demolished in the late 1970’s, the lodge built a new brick building at the bottom of Elm Street, where Sprott’s / Kidd’s Building had been.

Their time as the 599 Club there was short lived before moving out in 1988 to the lodge in High Blantyre. It then became Cobblers Pub until 1992. In 1993 the brick building was sold off as modern flats.

This picture couldn’t have been any more different to the tenements which had been there only 4 years before the photos were taken.