I’ve got some great new (auld Blantyre) pictures coming up this month! Built in the 1930s, the Public Toilets on the North side of Glasgow Road had become dilapidated and in poor condition by the late 1960s. As the 1970s started, the small toilet near the park entrance were becoming unused, unfit for purpose.
By 1976, the small building was constantly vandalised, toilets blocked and not a place anybody wished to visit, regardless of how desperate the situation was! When the new Strathclyde Regional Council announced it was closing this wee building, the last of 3 toilets which had served Blantyre, they were met with a storm of protest. Vandalism had closed the toilet after 40 years leaving Blantyre residents without any public convenience.
In October 1977, planning permission was passed for a new modern convenience at a similar location at the park, just opposite the junction of Victoria Street and Glasgow Road. The toilets were to be single storey, larger and built of brick, with convenient access for disabled people. The cost, a considerable £38,227. (About £330,000 in today’s money!). The council even suggested there would be a full time toilet attendant, though I don’t believe this ever came about.
So, the old toilets pictured were demolished and Blantyre got its modern new toilets.
