The Gorbals, Glasgow (a place)

[anne jane]

Hi Ele

I don't know anything about bare knuckle fighting in the Glasgow Green but if you go on to www.glesga.ukpals.com I am sure that someone there will answer your questions.  It's also a great site for everyone who is looking for any info or help on the east end of Glasgow

Janie

[RJ_Paton]

http://heritage.scotsman.com/cfm/heritagenews/headlines_specific.cfm?articleid=1187222003&subset=archive
is another site about a former Gorbals Bare knuckle boxer who was subsequently awarded the VC

[RJ_Paton]

Re sewing razor blades into the lapels of jackets ..... purely self defense 

The logic being that if someone were to grab hold of you intending to headbutt you (the famous Glesga Kiss) they would do so by grabbing hold of your jacket lapels.
Therefore with the razor blades sewn in there they would injure themselves and give you that additional time needed to deliver a telling blow. 

[anne jane]

That's an excellent and informative site

Many thanks

Janie

[carolineasb]

Rob

It's blatantly obvious that you have not been near Glasgow for a very very long time.

Glasgow has enjoyed much regeneration/rebuilding in the last 20 odd years.

In fact "The Gorbals" have totally changed in the last 20 odd years - it may still have high rise flats but many of the awful "slums" are gone giving way to lovely new builds.  Of course, it is not one of the best areas in Glasgow but every city has good and bad areas.  Even in areas that are not the best, many of the people are still the best!!!

I speak not as a Glaswegian but a Paisley Buddie that is at present working on the perimeter of the Gorbals.

The Glasgow Green is just across the River Clyde from my work.  It is used for many things - Pipe Band Championships/Concerts etc

Rgds

Caroline

[acorngen]

Caroline,

Well you are wrong I was in the gorbals about 6 months ago.  Have you been in amongst the high rise flats and seen the grafiti the rubbish strewn everywhere, the shop keepers behind bullet proof screens?  I doubt it very much.  I could go on.  At the end of the day the slums may well have gone or rather what we would associate with slums have gone yet the modern high rise are the equivalent.  We wont mention the constant stepping on broken needles etc.

But until I moved back to England I used to spend a lot of time in the Gorbals in those high rise flats and buying goods in those self same stores.  However if you had read all my posts you would have realised that I had been there recently because I have just about repeated one of my original posts.  It is a run down part of Glasgow and one in need of a lot of money to make it better.  Yes the people within the gorbals are happy but speak to them and most will say if only they would clean it up.

Ill stop there

Rob

[David Barber]

The Gorbals are about 5 minutes walk from Glasgow city center and situated on the opposite side of the Clyde.  The area is mainly high rise flats and very rough neighbourhoods.  It makes Brixton in London look tame.  Jimmy Boyle the notorious early 60's gangster was born and raised there.

The shops in the Gorbals have metal bars all around the shop assitant because of the robberies being rife.  All that said I used to visit an ex girlfriends family friend there and never had too much trouble but I would sooner live rough than in the Gorbals.

Rob

I was born in Tradeston,next door,you might say to "The Gorbals.Gorbals like tradeston was a district in Glasgow.It had a few Gangs in the the 1920"s(read book"NO Mean City").However in all my lifetime there(1935-67)I have never seen or heard of things as you describe and I for one would rather live in the Gorbals than live Rough.I would also be of the opinion that you never lived there or at most was just passing through and not qualified to talk as you do.

[acorngen]

1967 - 2004 = 37 years in that time I guess the place as changed more than you realise.  Did I ever stay there?  Yes I did with my then Girlfriends Cousin.  Is it all as I described?  Yes it is.  Even the busses in Glasgow have bullet proof screens around the drivers because of the attacks they have suffered.  The Gorbals is in my opinion not for the faint hearted and I stand by what I said many weeks ago when I made that post.  What opinions we generate about a place at the time of our visiting is one that stays with us throughout our lives and only revisiting that place can change that idea.  I wouldn't comment on how the place was in the 60's only ever having read about the place back then but Having spent many hours in the Gorbals I do feel entitled to offer an opinion from my point of view on its resent state.

Gen

[JohnMac43]

I dont think BOB and some of the others have been in the Gorbals for years.
 All the negative comments are pathetic.
The New Gorbals is a busy place now with millions being spent in rejuvenating the area. Many expensive private housing an apartments have sprung up. The Gorbals burying ground in now a lovely rose garden. The new library is so modern in structure and content. The history of the area is so colourful and millions have lived and worked in the area over the past few hundred years. I dont see bars on any shop windows!!!