Byres Road

Byres Road during the West End Festival in June 2006

Byres Road is a street in Hillhead, Glasgow and is the central artery of the city's West End.

Location and history

Byres Road is a mixed commercial, shopping and upmarket residential area consisting largely of traditional sandstone tenements with retail premises on the ground floor and three floors of residential flats above. Its proximity to the University of Glasgow has meant that the surrounding West End of Glasgow is very bohemian, with a large student, academic and artistic population that includes Alasdair Gray, whose mural and ceiling paintings adorn the Ubiquitous Chip, the Oxfam Bookshop, and the Oran Mor bars.

Stretching from Great Western Road at the Botanic Gardens in the north to Dumbarton Road at Partick Cross in the south, the road originally ran through a relatively rural area called the Byres of Partick (also known as Bishop's Byres). The oldest pub in the area is the 17th century Curler's, originally sited beside a pond used for curling and, legend has it, given a seven-day licence by King Charles II.

During the period when Hillhead and Partick were independent burghs, Byres Road was known by its original name of Victoria Street. By the time Hillhead was annexed by Glasgow on 1 November 1891,[1] there were four different Victoria Streets in the expanded Glasgow area.[2] All these streets were subsequently renamed with Victoria Street, Hillhead, becoming Byres Road. The burgh of Hillhead was created on 14 May 1869 [3] and the Burgh Chambers were established in Victoria Street in 1873[4] on the site of the present day Hillhead Library.

Nearby lanes and by-ways, notably Ashton Lane, have benefited from the business of Byres Rd and now contain a variety of small businesses from tapas bars to second-hand record stores.

The North end of Byres Road is served by Hillhead station of the Glasgow Subway, while the southern end is closer to Kelvinhall on Dumbarton Road.

References

  1. ↑ Peoples History of Glasgow, 1899
  2. ↑ Glasgow Post Office Directory, 1892
  3. ↑ Glasgow Post Office Directory, 1890
  4. ↑ Glasgow Post Office Directory, 1873

External links

55°52′25″N 4°17′42″W / 55.87361°N 4.29500°W / 55.87361; -4.29500

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