Savers moves

A Rutherglen councillor has added his voice to calls for Stan Laurel to be honoured in Rutherglen.

Robert Brown has called on South Lanarkshire Council to consider proposals for a Stan Laurel trail throughout Rutherglen and Glasgow that would pay tribute to the comic’s Scottish roots.

The Liberal Democrat this week penned a letter to local officials asking them to carefully consider the idea, put forward by Laurel & Hardy super fan Ross Owen in last week’s Reformer.

Mr Brown said: “I have raised this with council officials and sent a few messages off, and we will see what happens from there.

“I have been thinking about it a bit, in terms of the tourism strategy for Rutherglen, and there are a number of things that could be of interest here.

“You could have a plaque at his house on Buchanan Drive...so it would be worth looking into this and seeing what more we could do with this idea, and with other tourist ideas for Rutherglen.

“Ideally you would want something where groups of people would come to the area for a day out, such as a group of Laurel and Hardy fans, or a group wanting to look at the war graves in the cemetery.”

Discussion on the possible Stan Laurel trail came as a new film, Stan & Ollie, was released last week, looking at the famous comic duo.

Although born in the north of England in 1890, Stan moved to Scotland as a boy when his father took a job managing the Metropole Theatre in Glasgow.

The family had homes in both Stonelaw Road and Buchanan Drive, while he attended Rutherglen Academy and later Queen’s Park Secondary. Mr Brown added: “He has very strong links with Rutherglen and there is a lot of potential here.

“You have to bring together an interesting experience and an audience that would want to see it. It could attract more people to the area, which would be a help to [the local economy].

Stan & Ollie opened in cinemas across the UK on Friday. A Savers store is set to open in Cambuslang tomorrow, January 17.

The retailer, which offers toiletries, cosmetics and other household items at discounted prices, will open in the former Superdrug outlet on Main Street.

Superdrug closed its doors for the last time two weeks ago.

As Superdrug and Savers are owned by the same company, it is understood that staff were offered employment in the new shop.