Glasgow 1974-78 

I was 10 years old in 78. I remember the poverty and depravation in Glasgow but still fond memories. The people of Glasgow are the salt of the earth. Always a laugh. Proud Glaswegian here ❤️

Some of the comments below are a bit harsh , you must remember this is the 70’s tough times all over the UK .The economic impact of the Second World War was still being felt, harsh economic conditions for everyone .Multiple deep recessions .The Glasgow people have always been warm-hearted and generous that’s never changed no matter what , the city has some of the finest Victorian architecture in the uk and wonderful green open spaces . I left Glasgow to seek my fortune down south like a lot of people of my generation born in the 50,s , never found the fortune but did carve out a decent life nonetheless less.I miss Glasgow , don’t miss the weather.

You should be lauded for taking these pics and putting them on here. They're all stunning snaps of Glasgow. I grew up in Govan in the 60's/early 70's and I can relate to these images no problem. I can remember the workies demolishing the midgiebins round the back of our Uist st which bordered the back of Elderpark st, and watching as they chased the scurrying rats with their shovels to flatten them. Then the wee guy in uniform with the stepladder lighting the close mantles at the entrance. Even the people that stayed in the bottom flats in our close had to use outside lavvies. Imean this wasn't wartime...we're talking 67-69 here. Great pics.

Looking back at it was hard times many families had to endure but being a kid playin with your pals on the streets was amazing didn't have a care in the world.

The photo of the man in the bus station with the dog was my father Jack Phillips and his guide dog Volley he wouldn’t have known he was snapped

3:15 Mrs Giusti's Dorset street Anderston. Used to go and buy we plaster figures to paint them. I still remember the smell of that shop!

I was 14 to 18 when these photos were taken, and several hundred miles away. I used to see kids like these around the estates I grew up near, so full of dreams that nobody cared to let them achieve.

I was brought up in 1960's England but I used to love going to stay with my granny in Blackhill. I used to dread my mum taking me back home because I was always happier with my Glasow family. And its still the same for me today, most of my family are gone but I still spend as much time as I can in the place I've always considered my real home.

Absolutely brilliant photo journalism capturing the demise of communities and the vision of modernity which was believed to solve poverty. The images are so powerful and sad but seeing the smiles on the kids faces also gives a feeling of hope for the future.

Great old photos of Glasgow, I remember these times as I was born in 1964. Came from Maryhill to The Drum in 1974. I think the guy with the guitar and tartan suit was the Roller Man in these photos, he used to busk in the toon outside Frasers in Buchanan Street, does anyone remember him? Great times in Glasgow as have great memories of these days.

enjoyed immensely thanks for sharing these lovely pictures . i could only imagine the memories they would give to some person wanting a wee look back

Thanks for sharing, that was incredible. I'd give everything I owned to be able to step back in time.....pure dead brilliant, you've made my day...cheers x

I remember that old guy dressed in Tartan he used to busk on Argyle Street sometimes he would have shoe laces on his guitar, he was a happy old guy

I lived in Glasgow during this time and whilst there were areas that were dreadfully deprived there were also areas that were beautiful. The photos were super but needed some balance

Thanks for these photos. My parents moved out of the Gorbals to East Kilbride when I was 3 in 1967. It was a new Town then and full of green space. It was the right move.

My mum's home town glory Glasgow sadly she has past but would always show her videos she loved watching them love ya mum XX love u Louise and love you dad gbnf xxx

I love Glasgow and its people., haven't been there since this covid thing started. Hopefully, please God, we can get back to normal and get our greatly missed weekends away back again .

Thanks Hugh. As a teenager spent lots of time in Glasgow in the 70's. Your pictures sum it up in that period. Good and bad but always exciting and interesting with a hint of danger!!

Fantastic photos. A trip down memory lane for me.

Glasgow has had many changes over the years! But you’ll never find greater people !

Thanks, this brought back so many happy memories. 👍

I can relate to these photographs recognise so many places people where happier in those days and they had nothing thank you so much for sharing

Top drawer street photography, absolutely wonderful....

Yes parts of Glasgow were pretty grim then and it took the Great Storm of January 1968 to show just how bad some of the tenements were when 29 paid with their lives. It was a wake up call which generally changed Glasgow for the better. Despite the conditions it was and still is a city with a great spirit and warm people many of whom had little but would give you the shirt off their backs.

Stumbled on this , the ferry in its death throws thank you for sharing ....when ma da wasn't workin it was a trip over on that ferry , and a walk along the clyde ....in truth ....it was dirty n not nice , but it was time for me 4 ....till 7 yoa time with ma da and this just brought a billion memories back to me ....thanks

I have never been to Glasgow. I mean, I never stayed in Glasgow... but we drove through the city on our way to the West Coast of the Highlands. It was in 73. The image I kept is that of an avenue bordered with Victorian buildings with walled up windows, as gray as the gray sky, of a drunkard crossing the gray street almost empty of cars, empty of walkers, of swirling newspapers. Quite shocking when I was promised wide open spaces, lochs, gorgeous lights and colours, wild life and legendary castle ruins. This picture recently came back to my mind. I wanted to check if it was somewhat faithful to the reality of the time or if it was just a fantasy. At the sight of these beautiful B&W photographs, I can say today that despite my great age, my memory is not failing me.

Made me sad looking at these photos great as they are - many painful memories as well as good ones remembering the friends and families lost as well as the homes and the way of life I remember from the 60s and 70s - excellent work though, thank you!

The memories are flooding back, thank you so much for this

All that important history captured by your great eye and camera Hugh. Thank you.

fantastic images, really enjoyed watching

Absolutely brilliant photos, brings back so many memories. I was aged 9-13 in those years, and stayed up the red road flats 1966- 77. only left because of a fire that happened in our block. This has brought back a lot of good memories. Thank you.

Well Done Sir, great to see these shots capturing the moment. The B&W adds to the nostalgia!

Yep .. fantastic memories, bringing it all back home to me. Wonderful music to suit too

A great set of pictures. Thank you. ;-)

Half expected to see myself in amongst these. I'd have been between 8 and 12 during this period and the memories still feel fresh.

I wish I could have taken these. God bless Glasgow.

They are good pictures. I was brought up in Kinning Park Area, lived at 89 Paisley Road , 2 blocks from Paisley Road Toll. That was in the 50's and 60's. I have been in Canada 54 years and I was last home in 1984, so no doubt I would, see a great difference now. I enjoy seeing the old pictures. Thank you For posting them. Jeanettè Howson (was Chambers)

It's exactly how I remember it. Blitzed and forgotten. I came from Renfrew which was a little better but not much. A succession of garbage government and politicians who were more interested in kissing Soviet ass than helping there own folk, didn't help. We used to drop a microdot in Paisley then get the Paton's bus to Govan and get on the underground . We'd come up into the city at at St Enoch's and by then the world was amazing. We'd walk for hours and hours all over the town, getting totally lost and not caring.

These are fascinating. A huge BRAVO for sharing this and doubtless doing many others. I lived and worked in Glasgow from mid 1972 to late 1973, sent up from London after a year as a Management Trainee to manage a distribution depot with 40 blokes in Broomloan Rd, Carlisle, Inverness and Aberdeen. I was told to play up on the fact that I came from the North East (not London!), to avoid talking about Religion and watch talking about Footie. Lived in the West End using the Underground to get round - just loved that it swayed so much and the smell... never forgotten - just watching the films of the Underground brings it back straight away. I don't think I realised at the time how derilict some parts of Glasgow was, though some of our drivers lived nearby and we would have to go to see them from time to time in the Tenements and also out to the East End. We used to deliver payrolls to the shipyards, mainly building Oil drilling platforms at the time which was fascinating... did I miss the Big Yin I wonder? Had the opportunity to visit many businesses in and around Glasgow as part of getting new work. Always after there would be a drink but I could never do the Heavy and a Half. We did go to the Muscular Arms several times, quite and education for my girlfriend who was living in Edinburgh. The offset was taking her to the Ubi Chip in its very early days and on classier days Rogano's. Went up back in the early 2000's when I was working for the MOD, how the City had changed... but of course not all of it and so much is still work in progress. Photos such as these chart history and remind us it was not always "The good old days" for everyone.

Moved from Glasgow to Irvine at age 4 in 1977 so I missed playin in the midden!!!

Fantastic. thanks for sharing.

An astonishing collection of photos.

Superb documentary photography got the touch of Bresson about it.

Every time I watch videos like this I’m reminded how different Edinburgh and Glasgow are from each other. It’s like two different Scotland’s.

I grew up in Anderston in the 70’s, great work

Thank you all for the comments and glad you found this period of Glasgow's history interesting. There was an exhibition at Street Level Photoworks Glasgow of my photos in January 2015. www.streetlevelphotoworks.org

Stunning pics and cool soundtrack

Nikon F Photomic, I got mine in 1975 while at the old College of Building & Printing studying Photography. This took me right back, a lovely photoessay. Thanks for uploading.

These are amazing Hugh, just subscribed. Can't wait to see more

Excellent series of photos, barring the Gorbals area, I'm familiar with all the images here. The images of the area at the tunnel rotundas and the pedestrian ferry [I worked in Elliot Street] brought back memories of how quickly they tore those houses down. Thanks for sharing.

I started my nurse training in 1978...I was born at Queen's Cross Maryhill and remember the tenements being pulled down.

Aye , gone but no forgotten !

Striking collection of images; all very relatable and a testament to how much our dear City has grown over the past 40 years 👍

BRILLIANT VIDEO

thanks for the memories it was great to see plantation street again the way it used to be fantastic

The mural on the gable end is of a painting by Paisley artist John Byrne. A great Scottish artist and still underrated.

That first pic of Bedford Street is amazing. That whole street has been demolished now

Born in the Gorbal's slums then the slums of the new housing in Nitshill. Got out of Glasgow as soon as I could. Not nostalgic for it at all. As someone else said this was a minority. Most people did not live like this. This poverty existed and still exists and destroys lives but it is not the history of Glasgow. Just a part of it but it seems to be what people concentrate on.

nice seeing some pics of shitehill (sighthill).....kicked many a ba' at the bottom of the flats

These are excellent and very powerful pics of Glasgow’s past. Very well done. My parents say they were happier times however looking at the living and working conditions in these pictures makes you wonder…….

I went to Glasgow for the weekend about twenty years ago it was brilliant 👍

Fabulous photos Wonderful photographer

Brilliant. Thanks for showing.1970s, for me, great times. NO internet. NO computers. NO NO twitter etc. Less people. Less cars. Less greed. Crooks, in those days they wore masks. Today they have pens. I lived just ouside Liverpool and worked in Liverpool, so much the same. Defitnitely better times than these overcrowded, clogged up roads, cut throat society we have today. Did i mention GREED.

Great melancholic pics.

Thanks this was nice takes me back

What an incredible record. Until 1963 we lived only a few yards from where the photo of Gerry's Snack Bar was taken at 3:40, in Clydebank.

Brilliant photos, yet so tragic

It's amazing what image can be made by being selective in what is photographed ( nothing wrong with the actual pictures they are good) but I was born in 1956 and these pictures relate in no way to the Glasgow I grew up in. We never had an outside toilet. we never had back yards full of rubble and filth. No, I was not born in a posh area of Glasgow I was born and raised in Drumchapel. A housing scheme that initially had no amenities. but we had no filth or kids running about in rags.

Great pictures am from glasgow I was born year before that

boy that brought back some memories, hard times but good times when you knew your neighbour, born in 65 we were all the same had nothing but wanted for nothing if that makes sense, then ink when visiting my pals I had at least 2 or 3 dinners a day :) happy happy days

Amazing !! Thanks 🙏

Wonderful photographs, thank you! If you have any of Dundee (at any period of time) - please post them too.

These are very good photos

St Patrick’s Primary in Anderson and also what remained of the “Tarzie” swing on the bridge.

Thanks for this.

Quality Hugh..Slainte

Good to see, thank you from me in Irvine 😁😁

Not sure who here might remember him, but the wee tartan guitar player @ 2:51 onward, he used to busk outside of Woolworth on Argyll St by Miller St in the 1970s. He couldn't sing for toffee, and his guitar 'playing' was even worse! Might've used tin flutes as well. But he was part of the scenery of those days. Whoever he was, God rest his soul .....

Good to see you only showed the good bits.

Thanks

I can remember as a boy walking through Govan as the tenements were being tore down at a rapid rate, whole streets laid waste in no time and families uprooted.

Lived in North Street Tenament Anderson late 70s 80s , building dens and boogie's,playing in the back court watching the jakeys behind the Tudor and drew drop with there Bellaire 😂❤

Utterly depressing or ‘The good old days’? Either way, fascinating.

Great photos..with the arrival,of the high rise flats poverty was just transferred to another set of buildings from the terraced houses..some very strong people emerged from these areas and unfortunately some damaged people..very sad but the city had great humour

For an amateur photographer like me, this is very inspiring. Amazing shots from a bygone era…

Death burger van at Charing Cross unreal!

Wow, some great pictures. They look like scenes from straight after WW2. It’s incredible how gentrified much of Glasgow has become.

👍 great!

Why, when making films, or showing photos of Glasgow, they only show run down area's, they are plenty nice areas,

Harrowing images of a dark place in an even darker time. I couldn’t watch to the end as too many awful memories were being unlocked, don’t let anyone tell you these were the good old days. However, I acknowledge the skill of the photographer and his recording of a dark period of Glasgow’s social history

4.34 mk... Terrys tatoo parlour . next door was the general wolf pub & the pop in dairy, used to walk past every day going to whitehill school from barrowfield, , terry used to park his american estate car across the road, aaah memories eh! 👍

Wish there was a caption on each photo telling you what area it's in

Good music

1:07.... now that's what ya call a playground!.....

willock st was in there somewhere in the photo right after the plantation photo I stayed there from 1967 to 1970/71ish before the houses were demolished due to storm damage we were moved to Collina st not far up the road xxx

Glad i found this - some great pictures there - we should count ourselves lucky there are still some slums that escaped the bulldozer for us to enjoy

Wow, it makes me feel so fortunate to have lived, where I did, on a brand new council estate in Mitcham, as a little girl, growing up in these years when I was aged 10 to 14 😊

Aye was that soldier god bless made me the man i am today love glasgow from the bum from the drum

Sadness, anger seeing these, I immigrated to Canada in 1978. This is a one sided view though, there were (and are now , I'm given to believe, I never returned) many beautiful places in Glasgow.

If you want to look into everyones DNA we all have a bit of every nationality in us. If you think about it , it was humans who split the world into countries . One race, one world. If you were blind people would all be the same to you . Lets stop judging people by vision.