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Glasgow Live
Glasgow Live
National
Lee Dalgetty

Gorbals locals wax lyrical about the area in unearthed footage

Many areas across the world change dramatically over time, though none quite as much as the Gorbals in Glasgow.

In unearthed footage posted on YouTube, Gorbals locals discuss growing up in the area as it went through a period of transformation.

The video, taken from a programme titled On The Streets Where We Lived, looks at the regular people from the area - as opposed to the “gangsters and celebrities” who hailed from the Gorbals.

The area, which was known to be densely populated in the early 20th century, held 90,000 people in the 1930s.

By the 90s, only 10,000 people lived on the Gorbals streets.

Between the 50s and 80s the area was largely knocked down, with many Glaswegians making the move from dated inner city tenement buildings to the new high rise flats.

People were dispersed to new housing in Castlemilk or East Kilbride.

As the buildings disappeared, so did the families and characters of the area - with many saying goodbye to a certain way of life.

One of the men featured in the film says: “I was young in a slum but I never knew bad times, to me every day was a summer holiday.

“See, weans can adapt and make the best.”

As the footage moves on, we see some of the last remaining buildings left after the Gorbals clearances - such as the stand alone tenement on Gordon Street.

In the area known as Lauriston, the building has fallen to a state of disrepair.

Another part of tenement life that was lost over the years was the local midwife, often an older woman.

Before the days of the NHS, and when money was hard to come by, she’d work for free to help the local community.

As the voiceover tells us: “These women, as they were always women, had only a vast wealth of experience and knowledge to help them deliver children.”

Families were large in the Gorbals, though many children died young.

The inadequate healthcare and poverty combined with many diseases that are long gone today, saw the premature loss of many Gorbals youth.

Despite the grey and drab picture painted of the area, the footage rightfully tells us: “For local colour you only had to look towards one of the thriving businesses in the old Gorbals.

“For all that there was little money around, people still liked to look their best and the Gorbals had a veritable host of barbershops dotted around the area.”

After families were shipped into the high rise flats, it soon became apparent that this ambitious new way of living might not have been all it was cracked up to be.

The Queen Elizabeth Square flats were destroyed in 1993, to make way again for a new generation of housing developments.

Since the demolition of old Gorbals, the area has seen highs and lows - though in recent years has been improved.

From the Gorbals Leisure Centre to modern new housing, many consider the area to be back on the mend.

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