KEN Smith ("When a shot fired in Glasgow was heard worldwide'', The Herald, March 7, states) that the Cowcaddens area of Glasgow "had been cleared of the worst slums". But Cowcaddens was not a slum area, especially when compared to the likes of the old Gorbals district. Although Cowcaddens had high-density housing, mainly tenement buildings, the area was very busy, vibrant, and filled with various retail stores.
One former street, Stow Street, had people coming from all over to shop there, and the former arcade, Queens Arcade, at the top of that street, was also full of busy stores. This arcade led on to Renfrew Street across which was the former Woolworths Store, and to Marks and Spencer, extant. Through those one could exit to Sauchiehall Street which was not, as Mr Smith writes, "entering another world" to the locals. We were part of that world and it was certainly not "in stark contrast to our daily reality".
The former Stow Street was my birthplace 83 years ago, in a tenement on the fourth floor, and nobody considered the tenements "dark and forbidding". Granted, the backyards had limited space due to the fact that bomb shelters had been erected in some. The garbage areas, called middens, had mostly ashes in the bins, and those came from coal fed fires.
The former cafe owner Joe Pieri said in his book Tales of the Savoy that Cowcaddens was different from other Glasgow slum areas. He was partially correct in that, as it was different – but not as a slum area. It did "lie side by side" with the city centre as it was and had always been a big part of that area.
(Mrs) Barbara G Paton,
110 Unity Road, Suite 707, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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