Smuggling a cat onto a paddle steamer at the Broomielaw

Nearby, in the window at 200 Broomielaw, there's a sign saying that the building stands on the site of the former Glasgow Seamen's Mission, which was built in 1928.

The Broomielaw today is neatly landscaped and framed by gleaming modern buildings, part of the International Financial Services District, the IFSD.

Broomielaw today, with its sleek modern buildings (Image: Colin Mearns)

Back in the day, however, Broomielaw quay, and Anderston quay, and Lancefield Quay, were where generation after generation of Glaswegians sailed off 'doon the watter'. The quays were also renowned for their steady stream of Irish traffic.

The first Broomielaw quay dates back to the 17th century. Anderson Quay was completed in 1814 and Lancefield in 1840, writes author Michael Dick in Half of Glasgow's Gone, his book about the history of Glasgow shipping.

As long ago as 1858 a vivid description of a Saturday night at the Broomielaw was given by one Alexander Brown, a letterpress printer, whose pseudonym was 'Shadow', and who toured the city writing a series of remarkable descriptions about its citizens and the often dismal quality of their lives.

Gazing upon boatloads of trippers returning from doon the watter was considered an excursion in itself. "The Broomielaw, in particular, is beseiged . . . The boats in rapid succession arrive with their precious freight; and what with the smoke of funnels the long rows of spectators looking down from Glasgow Bridge,
and others lining the margin of the wharf, the scene smacks a little of the picturesque'', he wrote.

An evocative shot of the old Broomielaw one evening (Image: Newsquest)

And it was from the Broomielaw that Andrew Carnegie sailed with his family in the mid-19th century.

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Traffic jam on the Broomielaw, August 1961 (Image: Newsquest)

The childhood excitement of a trip doon the watter from Broomielaw was recalled by Maurice Lindsay in his 2001 book, Fabric of a City.  The sailing to Ardrishaig was made on the Columba, David MacBrayne's Royal Mail paddle-steamer. "We were to set out, I think, on the first day of July; mother and father, four children, dog, cat and goldfish ...", his account begins.

The cat had to be smuggled aboard in a basket. A liveried steward at the entrance to the cabin, or 'saloon' as it was more grandly called, looked at the young Maurice with some hostility. "What's in the basket?" he demanded. "Provisions", replied Maurice.

Shortly afterwards, however, the cat urinated, and a long and unmistakable stream of liquid issued from the basket. The steward reappeared in a trice. "Your provisions seem to be leaking, sir", he said crisply. "You'd better take them on deck".

Maurice in his book goes on to observe that before the construction of the riverside walkway, "long after the Broomielaw had ceased to function as Glasgow's harbour, it was a scene of noise and bustle, rarely visited by respectable citizens.

"I remember it as a clatter of horse-drawn carts on the cobbled carriageway, among which lorries soon began to nose their way, ultimately superseding the horses and their flat trundling carts".

Change and decline came Broomielaw's way. By 1964, the Glasgow-Belfast vessels of the Burns and Laird line long since having ceased to sail, the waterfront here was in a sad state.

"Today, cleared of its transit sheds, it is overgrown by weeds and rank grass", the Evening Times wrote that April. "Part of the quay has been given over to motorists as a free car-park, but the section overlooked by the King George V bridge epitomises a spirit of neglect and decay - a poor advertisement for Glasgow's 'wonderful Clyde'. Can it be cleared before it offends the eye of tourists?"

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In 1966 Glasgow Corporation bought the riverside stretch compromising Custom House Quay and the Broomielaw and Lancefield quays and launched an ambitious plan to turn it all into a leisure area. The entire scheme was forecast to take between 10 and 15 years to complete.

The Broomielaw, photographed from the Kingston Bridge in 1982 (Image: Newsquest)

Phase one was the redevelopment of Custom House Quay, which was finished in 1974, with space for shops, bars, and restaurants. Stage two, the landscaping of Broomielaw itself, was officially opened in October 8, 1976, by the then Secretary of State for Scotland, Bruce Millan.

As late as July 1988 the Herald could lament the "rotting, gap-toothed patch of dereliction" that the Broomielaw had become. It was far, we noted, from its old status as the nerve-centre of the city.

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Today, a successful regeneration project has created the IFSD, which has spread beyond its waterfront location. As Herald columnist Kevin McKenna noted in an article in March, "the big hitters are all here: Bank of Scotland/Lloyds, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley, BT, Clydesdale Bank, JP Morgan, RBS, Santander".

He quoted the IFSD website, which described Glasgow "as a world-class business location for business and financial services companies with the property, infrastructure, technology and, above all, the people with the right skills and experience.”

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Added McKenna: "Yes, all that is here and, judging by the construction work, will expand. But again, where are the people? Walking through these swanky satellites of the global elite is an eerie experience. It’s like one of those Chinese ghost cities which sprang up during a boom-time only to remain barren and unoccupied as the trade winds never quite reached them. A solitary Café Nero is free to pick up passing trade".