42 replies to this topic

[Pat]

Ooooooooh-kaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, so you couldn't see inside through the window, Pat?

Flying by, M. In a hurry to check out some of the new eatieries down the lower end of Byres Road.

The fabulous No 16 is in business once again, Cabbages and Kings bright and fresh as The Two Figs and Whistler's Mothers looking very slinky in its reincarnation as The Blind Pig.
In the parlance of my good friend Roy Beers, there's been a Byres Road Renaissance

[yonza bam]

Ah, Roy, Stuck on the same page as usual. "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain"

Remains to be seen how long any of it'll last. Nothing on that Cabbages & Kings site has lasted more than five minutes for the last several years.

And does the street really need yet another trendy pub stroke restaurant?? (With bouncers, he notes? Sign of the times - and illustrating perfectly what I've been saying for a long time as to what's happening to this area)

Who on earth are they hoping to attract, that isn't already catered for?


Bring back Studio One. A real pub, sadly missed.

The Halt on Woodlands Road has struggled badly since the smoking ban. I'm sure if it was magically transported by some sort of Star Trek teleportation device to replace the ex-Whistler's Mother pub, it would be stowed out every night. I think there's a demand for that sort of traditional type bar, but obviously not where it's situated. Why does every new place have to be a swanky bar/diner? More brainless homogenisation, imo.

But then, the teleportation costs would probably be prohibitive.

[Pat]

The Halt on Woodlands Road has struggled badly since the smoking ban. I'm sure if it was magically transported by some sort of Star Trek teleportation device to replace the ex-Whistler's Mother pub, it would be stowed out every night. I think there's a demand for that sort of traditional type bar, but obviously not where it's situated. Why does every new place have to be a swanky bar/diner? More brainless homogenisation, imo.

But then, the teleportation costs would probably be prohibitive.

Whistler's Mothers was always a bar/diner, yonza and The Two Figs is the same set up as the previous establishment. I don't agree with the 'brainless homogenisation' description and think probably quite a lot of thought goes into the aim to achieve different styles. The Blind Pig - speakeasy doesn't look to me like anything else in the West End and its sophisticated ambience is in complete contrast to The Two Figs bright and fresh interior.

Just had a peep into both - had a wee chat with Kev in The Two Figs, he was one of the friendly faces to be found in Rio's, and just back from a year in Australia. Don't know what the food is like but Tony Macaroni across the road is brilliant - when I went in around 5 p.m. on Thursday to book a table for a family outing the staff were very busy and turning people away.

It's a shame about The Halt, spent many a great night there in Jimbo's Hemmingways and Dexter Slim days. Aso loved going along to see Frances Anthony and the Underworld and The Elliots. Fun times - had to fight your way through the crowded smoke filled rooms.

[Dexter St. Clair]

The Halt's problems are more to do with the Tenancy arrangement where typically a tenant despite working 80 hours a week can earn less than than his full time employees. Camra have started a campaign

Mind you the Captains Rest have cornered more than a bit of their old clientele..

[yonza bam]

The Halt's problems are more to do with the Tenancy arrangement where typically a tenant despite working 80 hours a week can earn less than than his full time employees. Camra have started a campaign

Mind you the Captains Rest have cornered more than a bit of their old clientele..

If the licensee in The Halt is taking home less than his staff after paying the rent and their wages, that just means the pub is not doing enough business. Could also be that the owners are greedy barstewards, of course.

I liked this bit from the CAMRA link -


In 1946, in one of his grouchy, nostalgic moods, George Orwell subjected readers of the London Evening Stan­dard to an essay on his favourite pub, The Moon Under Water. Complaining that a decent pub was increasingly hard to find, he explained the character that made his local what it was: "The cast-iron fireplaces, the florid ceiling stained dark yellow by tobacco-smoke, the stuffed bull's head over the mantelpiece - everything has the solid comfortable ugliness of the 19th century. In winter there is generally a good fire burning in at least two of the bars, and the Victorian layout of the place gives one plenty of elbow-room. Upstairs, at least six days a week, you can get a good solid lunch..."

The Moon Under Water had no "glass-topped tables or other modern miseries... no sham roof-beams, inglenooks or plastic panels masquerading as oak". It had no piano or radio, and was quiet enough for conversation without being dull. It had a garden and was two minutes from the nearest bus stop. Best of all, the staff knew the regulars and served them real ale in "proper" pint mugs, with handles.

If Orwell were to walk in to the Moon Under Water in London's Leicester Square today, he would drop his glass in horror, handle or not. It is a cavernous, soulless place, in which hundreds of people jostle for lagers on Saturday nights before heading out to the clubs. No original fixtures, no garden, no chance of hearing even your own part of a conversation and no chance whatsoever that the bar staff will remember your face. Its ceilings are festooned with CCTV cameras

[thomas]

Walking up Byres Road today, the former One World Shop is now taken over by St Margaret's Hospice Shop. It has relocated from the former 'Robertson's' in Dumbarton Road, Partick. As I walked up past the newly opened and just as quickly closed 'West End Gallery' the window had a notice to this effect. "West End Gallery has been evicted from these premises due to non payment of rent arrears." Sign of the times.

Meanwhile back in Partick the former electrical store, Robertson's looks set to be turned into another 'Bookmakers'. Charity shops, bookies and financial advice shops everywhere. Just what we need.

[ozneil]

Mckinlays electrical shop still in Byers Road?

[ozneil]

Dats it ... used to be mates with one of the sons.

[yonza bam]

& Look what I found!!

http://www.glasgowwestaddress.co.uk/

...Check out the ancients who lived at your address!!

Fab. No idea who's behind this site, and had never heard of it ..... HH, have youse over on HG come across this before?

Hmmm. Wist-inducing.

Whit! Nae Huntly Gardens! Observatory Road's missing too.

I always thought Kelvinside was north of the top end of Hyndland Road, but a lot of streets that I would have thought were in Dowanhill are listed as being in Kelvinside, eg Ruthven Lane and Athole Gardens. Dowanhill only gets mentioned a few times.

And Ashton Lane is described as being in 'Hillhead and Burgh of Partick'. Eh? No' sure where exactly Partick begins, but always believed it started some way south of University Avenue.

[Gangster's Moll]

Mibbe they were differently named back then....?

Nae Hamilton Park Avenue either

...but some brilliant old photies. I've seen several on this site that I'd never seen before.

Great site and seems fairly new.

The Street is used to live in, Turnberry Road, used to called Minard Road - I remember hearing of Minard Road so I wonder when it changed.

[Dexter St. Clair]

from the Glasgow story. (Bearsden and mearns residents look away now)

Yet while the residential suburbs accommodated increasing numbers of city commuters, thanks to road and transport improvements, their inhabitants did not necessarily identify more closely with Glasgow. This was especially true of industrialising communities, which were relatively self-contained because of their employment base. Rather than pay city taxes, leading residents took advantage of parliamentary legislation unique to Scotland to transform their districts into police burghs with their own local elections and civic administration. In 1852 Partick became the first area immediately adjoining Glasgow to become a "police burgh"; Maryhill followed suit in 1856 and Govan in 1864.

Although Govan and Partick had previously rejected Glasgow's advances, the two burghs were eventually persuaded into joining with the city in 1912. The argument succeeded partly because of financial and other inducements and partly because taxation levels would benefit lower-income families. The massive 1912 extension was symbolically significant because the number of Glasgow's inhabitants rose to over a million.

As for boundaries

By the 1860s, Hillhead's population had grown to over 3,000, but the protracted and haphazard nature of development had precluded the construction of any substantial infrastructure. Residents petitioned to have Hillhead incorporated as a Police Burgh with statutory responsibility for streets, drainage, lighting, cleansing, policing, fire protection and building control. Hillhead was granted burgh status in 1869 (which it vigorously defended until finally annexed by Glasgow in 1891) based on an area of some 130 acres bounded by the River Kelvin, Byres Road and University Avenue.