Argyle Street
IT IS the longest street in Glasgow and rich in history – what are your favourite memories of the shops and sights of Argyle Street?
Originally called Westergait, it is 2.1 miles long, stretching from Trongate to the West
End. It was renamed in honour of the Duke of Argyll.
It is home to the the Hielanman’s Umbrella (or, if you are a non-Glaswegian, the Glasgow Central Station bridge, a masterpiece of glass and stone. It once displayed a giant Schweppes sign, captured here in June 1962.)
On Argyle Street, you will find the Argyll Arcade, one of Europe’s oldest covered shopping arcades and Scotland’s first ever indoor shopping mall.
The L-shaped arcade was built in 1827 in the Parisian style. It cut through old tenements and provides to this day, a link between Argyle Street and Buchanan Street. Argyle Street has had its fair share of drama too – some of the city’s worst fires happened here, including the 1951 blaze which destroyed the Arnott Simpsons corner.
Our photo archives are full of little gems from the street’s past which are bound to spark a few memories – like the pictures, from the 50s and 60s, of tramcars making their way along the street; the shot of police officers controlling the pedestrian crossing between Miller and Dunlop Streets in November 1956; the image of the City of Glasgow Police pipe band in August 1970; and the bricklayers high at work on the new Arnott Simpsons store in November 1960.