CLYDEBANK HAS NEVER BEEN SO MOULDY
I’ve lived between Clydebank and Scotstoun for nearly 20 years. My kids have grown up in this neck of the woods and it holds many warm memories. Today when my car was in the garage I walked the 9 miles back to my studio and took a wander up some back streets and poked around some dead ends. Met some friendly folk and even made pals with a Kurdish gentleman who has started a shop on the trunk road, in the industrial wastelands of South Street. I met an older man around the now defunct Renfrew ferry and tried to describe Limmy’s Yoker sketch to him, he seemed puzzled as to who Dee Dee was and why he wasn’t ‘fae Yoker’. (more on that later…)
Todays overcast and grey flatness really heightened the dank I was looking to capture. You know maybe Clydebank was mouldier in the 1910’s or something? But in my lifetime it’s never been mouldier. It’s still a place of great character and industry with lots of busy folk going about their craft. With Norway’s order for 5 new frigates the ship building industry is ramping up earnest, there’s a new shipbuilding college and the lot at BAE systems is an absolute hive of activity, I’ve never seen it so bustling. Not sure if it’ll have any benefit for the surrounding area but time will tell. The fly tipping and the boarding up of windows everywhere else is pretty stark, it’s good to see most of the independent engineering firms are managing to keep going, though two metal fab places have now disappeared, buildings and all.
North Bank Street - I’m pretty sure these boxes were slapped onto the top of these previously flat roofed flats
Same flats from John Knox Street - In March 1941, Clydebank was hit by two nights of intense bombing raids by the German Luftwaffe. John Knox street was levelled. The raids destroyed 4,000 of Clydebank's 12,000 homes and caused an official death toll of 528 people.
Porsche Cayman 987 - The sign says NO LOITERING OR DOG FOULING.
Excellent painting at Clydebank FC football ground. Interestingly the band Wet Wet Wet sponsored Clydebank FC in 1993/1994/1995. Marti Pellow the lead singer is from Clydebank. There is a shirt on ebay, if someone wants to buy me it, I would greatly receive it. Link to Football strip.
A child seat and an empty ½ bottle of GLENS VODKA.
Not Nice, Not Fun!
☠︎︎☠︎︎☠︎︎☠︎︎☠︎︎☠︎︎☠︎︎☠︎︎☠︎︎☠︎︎☠︎︎☠︎︎
Monkey Madness Soft Play - Me and my kids have many happy recollections of this street, It definitely had less boarded up windows back then. It is open and in this photo the sound of screaming kids was emanating from the doorway. I think most millennial parents will know this sound. My son had one of his birthday parties in the laser quest here and it was absolutely amazing craic, so much fun. :)
The Ringstone Garage - I mean c’mon, this arrangement of motors is a tour de force. The boy at the gate was not up for a chat, I said ‘alright’ to him, he just glowered at me over his glasses. I took my photo and carried on down the lane to find it was a dead end, as I walked back out he was still at the gate scraping the rust of some auto component. He looks at me and mutters ‘it’s a dead end ya.{unintelligible}…’ I smiled at him and said ‘I see that’, he broke eye contact and that was that. I’ve got a lot respect for these guys it is a hardy life faffing with cold metal in such a dank hollow, not only is the clyde 50m away, there is also a decent size burn running through the tree line behind. The advert on the taxi reads ‘AMBIENCE BEAUTY AND HAIR SALON’.
THE RENFREW FERRY & DEE DEE NO FAE YOKER
I tried to explain this to an older guy on the footpath. You just have to watch this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YfRbNipdOg
The interior of the DEE DEE hut. It’s a good example of how micro plastics are formed.
☠︎︎
The interior of the DEE DEE hut. I took a picture in this brick building about 3 or 4 years ago, a brutal scene with a Duvet and a pillow, it is in the LAIRD OF FCKNG NOWHERE
WELCOME to SOUTH STREET
Home of BAE systems and the former Albion Motors Factory . My Uncle was trained by Albion Motors in the 60’s. LINK TO HISTORY OF ALBION MOTORS.
Well, we shot the line and we went for broke
With a thousand screamin' trucks
An' eleven long-haired Friends a' Jesus
In a chartreuse micra-bus
An ancient TRIUMPH, someone keeps this thing running because it moves about often, I’ve seen it for years in different park ups.
Pretty ‘h’kng rusty like. YES badge on the rear view mirror.
A £200,000 Lambourghini Huracán Performante. Me and my son always had a look passing this place for nice supercars. Mitchell Inglis are a high end body shop on south street. I also have a picture of a crashed Lamborghini from this car park.
The base of the Barclay Curle Crane. Big crane, long history and the only Titan crane to be left abandoned. Both the Finnieston crane and the Clydebank cranes have been restored. Although grade A listed it rots at the back of the still busy and well used Barclay Curle Complex.
A brief History of the Crane by a company working from the complex today can be found HERE
Well wasn’t I pleased when I turned the corner of the metal fence in the last photo. That’s right; a mouldy, 2007 Mitsubishi L200, Monster Truck. It has a breather and a ladder has been propped against it, allowing it to be used as a platform to enable the dumping of floor boards on top of the portakabin. A cement Mixer, a life buoy. An office chair props open the gate. White bucket, yacht mast, breezeblocks, pile of bricks.
The remaining Whiteinch High Flats. 64 Curle Street.
The Woman hanging out the window on her phone makes this.
(perspective corrected)
There was graffiti all round this estate that read ‘SKANTO IS A GRASS’
YSF was the fleeto tag round here.
The view 180 degrees and ten steps left from the office chair in the last picture.
There is a company here that manufactures whisky barrels, they are stashed all over the gaff. Beautiful things and so well made. Check the door on the portakabin and what is that scaffolding all about?
This is one of the original entrances to the Clyde Tunnel Footpath. If you have ever walked through Clyde Tunnel you will know that it is fucking scary. When I first lived in Scotstoun the gangs from Govan And Whiteinch would fight in the tunnel, I remember going through it twice on the bike and there had been serious fires in it. They installed a heavy steel cage with an intercom system eventually. Someone in the control room would have to buzz you through both doors. It was so common for people to get stuck in the tunnel that there was a facebook page called ‘Stuck in the Clyde Tunnel’.
The majesty of the Clyde Tunnel Northern Control Bridge in autumn. Talk about complimentary colours. I have obscured the ‘e’ in the ‘RANEK’ graffiti so it reads RANK.
All photos taken handheld with a Canon 90d and Sigma Art -18-35
PRETTY MOULDY EH?
✴
IF YOU’VE GOT THIS FAR, THANKS FOR READING.
AND A BIG THANKS TO THOSE WHO ARE DONATING, THIS HELPS SO MUCH WITH THE COSTS OF FUEL AND FILM.
✴With Gratitude
