Glasgow - The World's Greatest City

[thplinth]

18 minutes ago, PapofGlencoe said:

I've been having doubts about living in Scotland for a while and maybe i'm playing devil's advocate a bit but I'm beginning to really feel Glasgow and a large part of Central Scotland in general is an absolute shiteehole.

Compare Glasgow to most continental cities and it's humming.  We can't pretend otherwise.

We have very, very few open terraced social areas.  A few dirty seats on Dumbarton Road, a cosmopolitan scene does not make.  Apart from one 50 meter pavement, Ashton Lane, where else compares to ANY bar area in other European cities.  Ashton lane is a bog standard street in a lot of places.

Apart from maybe the MELA in Kelvingrove, are there any well attended community led cultural events? Celtic Connections is too exclusive and corporatised.  Compare to other events in Europe and it doesn't come close.  The Galicians come to make money out of it but compare to what they do over there and it's cringey.  You hear about Jazz and Comedy festivals but you hardly ever see much really going on.  They try to do something like Octoberfest and the council strikes it off.  Even that was a rip off from somewhere else.

We're more likely to give a food licence to a kebab shop than showcase our own quality food. Foreign people come to the city and don't think Scotland has any food.

The GOMA is full of the dreg 'works' nobody else in Europe wants.

Argyle Street is full of bird shitt and dirty buildings.  Buchanan Street is probably just about okay.  I think Glasgow really lacks one pedestrianised non- exclusively shopping street.

The pavements are narrow, broken and dirty.  Commercial bins are just left on the main streets within the showcase city centre area.  Rank.  Buses come up and down most of the main avenues non stop. There's literally a motorway going through the middle of the city.

The main thoroughfare into the Southside goes through Eglinton toll, Tradeston.  They're not even dumps.  They're desolate no man lands from something out of the Eastern Front.

The River Clyde upgrade is what... a few muddy grassy knowles and some grafitti'd barren walkway overlooking more corporate buildings.  

They don't even let people celebrate new year in the main square like every other city in the world. Embarrassingly, we pretend we have hogmanay traditions.  They're only traditions if you still do them.  Nobody in Glasgow does anything worth commenting on. 

I am fairly well engrossed in the city; i have a wide social group and make the best of it.  But it's an absolute dump when you step back.

It could be a lot better.  The people are generally quite friendly on the round but I've found that in most places I go.  It's not unique to Glasgow.

All true. 

[exile]

21 hours ago, ErsatzThistle said:

How many people are aware two natural burns, the Camlachie and Molendinar, still run beneath the city streets and flow into the Clyde ? Both covered over in the late 19th Century.

Pictures of the Molendinar from a few years ago 

http://catchingphotons.co.uk/blog/miscellaneous/the-molendinar-burn/

I'm a really sad bästard so I find stuff like this fascinating. 

 

OK then talking of things hidden underground, how many people are aware there used to be a railway station at Botanic Gardens - the line was underground - the line was a branch from Central low level and it went under Kelvingrove park with a station at Kelvin Bridge. You can - or used to - still see the tunnel entrances and the old platforms were on a bridge over the Kelvin..

And of course there used to be a branch from High Street to Bridgeton Cross. So you could go from Partick to Bridgeton via Queen St low level. And of course there was a branch of the Central low level line from Bridgeton to Parkhead and beyond.

There could well be as much unused 'underground' railways in Glasgow as there is 'Underground'...

[aaid]

14 minutes ago, exile said:

OK then talking of things hidden underground, how many people are aware there used to be a railway station at Botanic Gardens - the line was underground - the line was a branch from Central low level and it went under Kelvingrove park with a station at Kelvin Bridge. You can - or used to - still see the tunnel entrances and the old platforms were on a bridge over the Kelvin..

And of course there used to be a branch from High Street to Bridgeton Cross. So you could go from Partick to Bridgeton via Queen St low level. And of course there was a branch of the Central low level line from Bridgeton to Parkhead and beyond.

There could well be as much unused 'underground' railways in Glasgow as there is 'Underground'...

You'd only need to lay about 1/2 a mile of track to join up the south side to the north side network.

Before St Enoch's was demolished, the line from the southside crossed over the Clyde next to what is now the central Mosque in the Gorbals.  The line bent into St Enoch's but also goes on to join what is now the passenger line just before Belgrove.

The line is still largely intact and is used these days for freight only and joins the line from Central to Paisley and points west near West St Subway.   

The bit of the line that's missing is part of what used to be the old Glasgow and Southwestern Railway which went from the south west into St Enoch's.  It runs from Cumberland St in the Gorbals where the Brazen Head is - the bridge is still there FFS - to join up with the Cathcart Circle slightly east of Eglinton Toll.

If you did this then you could have a Glasgow Crossrail that could run from the East End, Lanarkshire and even Edinburgh through to the Southside and Paisley without having to go anywhere near Central station.

I saw some mad plan to build an underground shuttle from Central to Queens Street, I'm sure this idea would be a lot cheaper, less disruptive and actually be a lot more useful.

[aaid]

It would basically be reopening this line. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Union_Line

[ErsatzThistle]

2 hours ago, exile said:

OK then talking of things hidden underground, how many people are aware there used to be a railway station at Botanic Gardens - the line was underground - the line was a branch from Central low level and it went under Kelvingrove park with a station at Kelvin Bridge. You can - or used to - still see the tunnel entrances and the old platforms were on a bridge over the Kelvin..

Interesting. Is that the one near Otago St ?

Some great second hand bookshops near there. 

[Mindimoo]

33 minutes ago, ErsatzThistle said:

Interesting. Is that the one near Otago St ?

Some great second hand bookshops near there. 

Great area.

[exile]

40 minutes ago, ErsatzThistle said:

Interesting. Is that the one near Otago St ?

yes

http://www.time-capsules.co.uk/images/pf-time-capsules/914.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2019/1945127484_caab8330ba_o.jpg

 

 

 

 

[Mox]

9 hours ago, PapofGlencoe said:

I've been having doubts about living in Scotland for a while and maybe i'm playing devil's advocate a bit but I'm beginning to really feel Glasgow and a large part of Central Scotland in general is an absolute shiteehole.

Compare Glasgow to most continental cities and it's humming.  We can't pretend otherwise.

We have very, very few open terraced social areas.  A few dirty seats on Dumbarton Road, a cosmopolitan scene does not make.  Apart from one 50 meter pavement, Ashton Lane, where else compares to ANY bar area in other European cities.  Ashton lane is a bog standard street in a lot of places.

Apart from maybe the MELA in Kelvingrove, are there any well attended community led cultural events? Celtic Connections is too exclusive and corporatised.  Compare to other events in Europe and it doesn't come close.  The Galicians come to make money out of it but compare to what they do over there and it's cringey.  You hear about Jazz and Comedy festivals but you hardly ever see much really going on.  They try to do something like Octoberfest and the council strikes it off.  Even that was a rip off from somewhere else.

We're more likely to give a food licence to a kebab shop than showcase our own quality food. Foreign people come to the city and don't think Scotland has any food.

The GOMA is full of the dreg 'works' nobody else in Europe wants.

Argyle Street is full of bird shitt and dirty buildings.  Buchanan Street is probably just about okay.  I think Glasgow really lacks one pedestrianised non- exclusively shopping street.

The pavements are narrow, broken and dirty.  Commercial bins are just left on the main streets within the showcase city centre area.  Rank.  Buses come up and down most of the main avenues non stop. There's literally a motorway going through the middle of the city.

The main thoroughfare into the Southside goes through Eglinton toll, Tradeston.  They're not even dumps.  They're desolate no man lands from something out of the Eastern Front.

The River Clyde upgrade is what... a few muddy grassy knowles and some grafitti'd barren walkway overlooking more corporate buildings.  

They don't even let people celebrate new year in the main square like every other city in the world. Embarrassingly, we pretend we have hogmanay traditions.  They're only traditions if you still do them.  Nobody in Glasgow does anything worth commenting on. 

I am fairly well engrossed in the city; i have a wide social group and make the best of it.  But it's an absolute dump when you step back.

It could be a lot better.  The people are generally quite friendly on the round but I've found that in most places I go.  It's not unique to Glasgow.

I love Glasgow but the above is spot on. Never the less, we have been held back by a corrupt Council full of old dobbers who would only be seen out in the city at free functions. I have genuine hope the new administration might utilise the potential that is undoubtedly there.

[exile]

4 hours ago, aaid said:

You'd only need to lay about 1/2 a mile of track to join up the south side to the north side network.

Before St Enoch's was demolished, the line from the southside crossed over the Clyde next to what is now the central Mosque in the Gorbals.  The line bent into St Enoch's but also goes on to join what is now the passenger line just before Belgrove.

The line is still largely intact and is used these days for freight only and joins the line from Central to Paisley and points west near West St Subway.   

The bit of the line that's missing is part of what used to be the old Glasgow and Southwestern Railway which went from the south west into St Enoch's.  It runs from Cumberland St in the Gorbals where the Brazen Head is - the bridge is still there FFS - to join up with the Cathcart Circle slightly east of Eglinton Toll.

If you did this then you could have a Glasgow Crossrail that could run from the East End, Lanarkshire and even Edinburgh through to the Southside and Paisley without having to go anywhere near Central station.

I saw some mad plan to build an underground shuttle from Central to Queens Street, I'm sure this idea would be a lot cheaper, less disruptive and actually be a lot more useful.

I've heard arguments for that for years. Although it sounds quite interesting I always thought it was a but overestimating how many people would want to go from Paisley to Edinburgh or Ayr to Alloa, rather than 'anywhere near Central station'.

[Fairbairn]

19 hours ago, PapofGlencoe said:

 

 Commercial bins are just left on the main streets within the showcase city centre area. 

This is one of my biggest gripes about Glasgow and it's not just the City Centre.  You can barely make it along Dumbarton Rd without having to navigate by these monstrosities.  Not sure if anyone knows Partick where 6 North and The Tiki Bar are?  They have a seated area outside which, if you ignore the frequent traffic, can be a relatively pleasant space to sit out in with a beer or 2 however there are 3-4 of these bins less than 6 feet away which are a complete eyesore.  It's the same on parts of Byers Road as well.  I don't know what the answer to this is and where else they can put these bins but they really need to find an alternative as it's makes the City look like a tip.

[ErsatzThistle]

12 hours ago, Mindimoo said:

Great area.

It is indeed. Very "outside the box" kind of place.

Quite a few nice wee cafes and vintage shops. And has the holy trinity of second hand bookshops - Caledonia Books on Great Western road, Thistle Books, Voltaire & Rousseau. Always buy something. 

11 hours ago, exile said:

yes

http://www.time-capsules.co.uk/images/pf-time-capsules/914.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2019/1945127484_caab8330ba_o.jpg

Strange seeing pictures of the place so "alive". Cheers 

My folks lived nearby in Tillie St for decades. Must have been great for the local kids watching all the steam locomotives at work from high up the tenements.

[PapofGlencoe]

1 hour ago, Fairbairn said:

This is one of my biggest gripes about Glasgow and it's not just the City Centre.  You can barely make it along Dumbarton Rd without having to navigate by these monstrosities.  Not sure if anyone knows Partick where 6 North and The Tiki Bar are?  They have a seated area outside which, if you ignore the frequent traffic, can be a relatively pleasant space to sit out in with a beer or 2 however there are 3-4 of these bins less than 6 feet away which are a complete eyesore.  It's the same on parts of Byers Road as well.  I don't know what the answer to this is and where else they can put these bins but they really need to find an alternative as it's makes the City look like a tip.

I know the exact bit you mean.  That 6 North is really good and you're right..wtf is the deal with sitting next to massive black bins?  Another example of a good pub which could do with being in a nice terraced lane structure.  How hard could it be to achieve that?  There seems to be very little ambition.

I think i may actually make a comment to the new administration on the bin point.  I think it really detracts from the city.  Never bothered before.  Probably get no reply.  

Recently a new kebab shop got a licence not far from our fairly residential area in the south - totally unneeded.  Such a daft thing but it's almost like the straw that broke the camel's back.  I'm starting to lose faith in the city.  It doesn't seem to want to change.  There's part of the Glasgow psyche that likes to wallow and take pride in how gritty (read bleak) the place is.  I've always loved it until now.  It's starting to wear on me a bit.

On a point of balance, what Glasgow has which is good is parks.  The parks are numerous and good.  We're always saying it has a good music scene as well.  I think that is massively over-hyped, there's no discernible area where there are various live acts...it's all scattered and bitty. But on it's day, there are some good venues.

[tartandon]

14 hours ago, Fairbairn said:

This is one of my biggest gripes about Glasgow and it's not just the City Centre.  You can barely make it along Dumbarton Rd without having to navigate by these monstrosities.  Not sure if anyone knows Partick where 6 North and The Tiki Bar are?  They have a seated area outside which, if you ignore the frequent traffic, can be a relatively pleasant space to sit out in with a beer or 2 however there are 3-4 of these bins less than 6 feet away which are a complete eyesore.  It's the same on parts of Byers Road as well.  I don't know what the answer to this is and where else they can put these bins but they really need to find an alternative as it's makes the City look like a tip.

Those big massive bins are a bloody nightmare and they stink.

In the city centre, West Nile street is particularly bad. The are along West Nile St between Gordon St and West George St is a total nightmare, both for the smell and also for the fact that these large bins block the pavement.

[tartandon]

Some great comparisons of Glasgow in this "now and then" youtube playlist

 

 

[Squirrelhumper]

9 hours ago, tartandon said:

Some great comparisons of Glasgow in this "now and then" youtube playlist

 

 

That's amazing!!!

[Mee]

The bin problem is caused by the council cleansing department not actually wanting to be bin men. I've watched them walk past bags of rubbish or even better drag a Wheely bin over the top smashing the bag open. 

Watched as the guy looked at the bag, looked at the bin considered putting it in then though Nah and smash the rubbish everywhere. Worst council department by a mile. 

Takes a month to get a bulk collection by which time people will have piled a load of stuff on top and then the bin men will refuse to lift it as the pile doesn't match the original list that was called in.

They will end up bringing back hunners of rats and the plague if they keep it up. Big bins are on the street as they refuse to go round the back to collect the waste now.

[biffer]

Christ, all us folk from Edinburgh, Aberdeen, etc step out of a thread that was turning into a mass weegie circlewank and when they're left to talk to each other they get depressed and it's a shithole again. 

[TDYER63]

On 24/05/2017 at 1:07 PM, PapofGlencoe said:

I've been having doubts about living in Scotland for a while and maybe i'm playing devil's advocate a bit but I'm beginning to really feel Glasgow and a large part of Central Scotland in general is an absolute shiteehole.

Compare Glasgow to most continental cities and it's humming.  We can't pretend otherwise.

We have very, very few open terraced social areas.  A few dirty seats on Dumbarton Road, a cosmopolitan scene does not make.  Apart from one 50 meter pavement, Ashton Lane, where else compares to ANY bar area in other European cities.  Ashton lane is a bog standard street in a lot of places.

Apart from maybe the MELA in Kelvingrove, are there any well attended community led cultural events? Celtic Connections is too exclusive and corporatised.  Compare to other events in Europe and it doesn't come close.  The Galicians come to make money out of it but compare to what they do over there and it's cringey.  You hear about Jazz and Comedy festivals but you hardly ever see much really going on.  They try to do something like Octoberfest and the council strikes it off.  Even that was a rip off from somewhere else.

We're more likely to give a food licence to a kebab shop than showcase our own quality food. Foreign people come to the city and don't think Scotland has any food.

The GOMA is full of the dreg 'works' nobody else in Europe wants.

Argyle Street is full of bird shitt and dirty buildings.  Buchanan Street is probably just about okay.  I think Glasgow really lacks one pedestrianised non- exclusively shopping street.

The pavements are narrow, broken and dirty.  Commercial bins are just left on the main streets within the showcase city centre area.  Rank.  Buses come up and down most of the main avenues non stop. There's literally a motorway going through the middle of the city.

The main thoroughfare into the Southside goes through Eglinton toll, Tradeston.  They're not even dumps.  They're desolate no man lands from something out of the Eastern Front.

The River Clyde upgrade is what... a few muddy grassy knowles and some grafitti'd barren walkway overlooking more corporate buildings.  

They don't even let people celebrate new year in the main square like every other city in the world. Embarrassingly, we pretend we have hogmanay traditions.  They're only traditions if you still do them.  Nobody in Glasgow does anything worth commenting on. 

I am fairly well engrossed in the city; i have a wide social group and make the best of it.  But it's an absolute dump when you step back.

It could be a lot better.  The people are generally quite friendly on the round but I've found that in most places I go.  It's not unique to Glasgow.

Could definitely be improved of that there is no doubt. Nor is it the greatest city in the world, and by far,  at least not to a neutral.  But I think you are being a bit harsh. 

Not sure more outdoor terraced space is a priority in a city that is arguably, and current weather aside, one of the wettest in Europe. Bins are indeed a disgrace though. 

As with a beating heart, its not always what you see but what you feel that is important. I have been to cities that are world renowned for being beautiful, Paris for example. I felt nothing whatsoever in Paris, James McFadden wonder goal aside. Budapest on the other hand I fell in love with. 

Hopefully one day your love affair with Glasgow will return if a new council get their act together.   ?

[Ormond]

3 hours ago, biffer said:

Christ, all us folk from Edinburgh, Aberdeen, etc step out of a thread that was turning into a mass weegie circlewank and when they're left to talk to each other they get depressed and it's a shithole again. 

[thplinth]

3 hours ago, biffer said:

Christ, all us folk from Edinburgh, Aberdeen, etc step out of a thread that was turning into a mass weegie circlewank and when they're left to talk to each other they get depressed and it's a shithole again. 

It is called a self-deprecating sense of humour. You being from Edinburgh struggle to understand it. You are too busy sucking banker and english dick to be able to work it out. 

[ErsatzThistle]

1 hour ago, thplinth said:

It is called a self-deprecating sense of humour. You being from Edinburgh struggle to understand it. You are too busy sucking banker and english dick to be able to work it out. 

Easy tiger, biffer is just engaging in a bit of innocent Glesga-Embra slagging off back and forth. I don't mind that. He'll no doubt be oot digging up recently deceased auld Mrs McDougall's coffin now. Traditional Embra pastime 

The ones I can't stand are the the pretentious, high and mighty types who think Glasgow isn't good enough for them and have to let everyone know just how low they consider the city and it's people, it's history and it's heritage, and how very glad they are to soon be away from it all . 

The City of Glasgow isn't perfect but I still bloody love it.

[thplinth]

7 minutes ago, ErsatzThistle said:

Easy tiger, biffer is just engaging in a bit of innocent Glesga-Embra slagging off back and forth. 

Wow who knew.  

Are you the new board policeman?

[ErsatzThistle]

6 minutes ago, thplinth said:

Wow who knew.  

Are you the new board policeman?

'ello, 'ello, 'ello

[biffer]

12 hours ago, thplinth said:

It is called a self-deprecating sense of humour. You being from Edinburgh struggle to understand it. You are too busy sucking banker and english dick to be able to work it out. 

I don't do that. My knees aren't very good so I have a chap who does it for me (chaps from the West will do anything for paper money).

[aaid]

On 24 May 2017 at 11:49 PM, exile said:

I've heard arguments for that for years. Although it sounds quite interesting I always thought it was a but overestimating how many people would want to go from Paisley to Edinburgh or Ayr to Alloa, rather than 'anywhere near Central station'.

I suppose it's a bit chicken and egg, if you have the extensive public transport system in place then more people will use it.   One good thing that has happened with the railways post-privatisation is the increase in the number of different services, largely on the same lines, which amongst other factors has seen rail travel rise markedly.

Thirty years ago, if you wanted to go from Scotland to anywhere South of the border then you had two options, the east coast or west coast main lines into London.  Unless you were going somewhere along these lines then you had to change at least once.  I could be wrong but I don't think there was a direct train from Glasgow to Birmingham.  

A couple of years ago, I was waiting for a train at Bristol Temple Meads to Reading and was gobsmacked to see that the next train after mine was going to Aberdeen.  In fact it's a service from Plymouth to Aberdeen.  Now you could ask how many people want to go from Plymouth to Aberdeen and the answer is probably not many, but there's probably a lot of people who go from point A to point B on that route.

I think the key for a city network  is really about commuting as that's the time when the network is most heavily used.  That's both about people moving across the city and also coming into and out of the hinterland.

People already travel a lot further to work than they did in the 1960s when the railway network was run down.  The key factor is not really how far you have to travel but how long it takes door to door.  If you make the journeys quicker, more people will use them.