Two photos taken exactly 100 years apart at the same location. This is Main Street at High Blantyre and the difference between each demonstrates that it wasn’t just Glasgow Road which has changed since last Century.

The vantage point is the same, just outside the Cornerstone Pub looking eastwards along the north side of Main Street towards Priestfield. This is close to home for me.

Look how busy the Main Street was in the older black and white photo of the 1920s. Outside the former Spiers Laun tenement people go about their business and I couldn’t help noticing that even though the ground is wet, a child runs barefoot.

Outside the barbers, the Blantyre Co-Operative society wagon is passing by, with the Heilanman’s pub beyond that. You can just about make out the Priestfield tree in the background.

Today, this modern scene in colour is a small triangular park, dominated by two large conifers. It may not be the commercial hub it once was, but the trade off is that this little part of Main Street is fairly green and usually well kept. Progress however? I’m not so sure.