What’s going for it? Bare lightbulbs. Yes, yes, I know they’re very fashionable right now, thank you very much. I have read Living Etc. But, at the risk of sounding like my late granny, what’s wrong with a lampshade? Once upon a time, bare lightbulbs in a window might have indicated poverty or dereliction. Now they mean quite the opposite. You’ll struggle to find a lampshade in the windows of the modish new nitespots on Argyle Street, aka the Strip. Finnieston is yet another tale of gentrification. Where once dockworkers had their fish supper, yuppies/dinkys/hipsters/whatevs now eat octopus with blood orange and drink in gin bars; where there were once actual docks, there are now “luxury” (you might want to speed-dial trading standards with that word) apartments. With wearying inevitability, last year saw Finnieston third in the UK for property price rises, at 14%. So perhaps it’s a case of let’s not move to. Or, if you do, maybe open something useful. With lampshades. And no cocktails in jam jars.
The case against The much-documented problems of gentrification. The Clydeside half by the Expressway can feel bleak, unpopulated and Anywheresville. Few affordable options if you have a family.
Well connected? Very well placed, with Kelvingrove Park right there, the Clyde with the BBC, STV, Hydro and SEC, and a half-hour walk to Glasgow Central. Trains: the local station, Exhibition Centre, makes Glasgow Central in four mins (every 10 mins or so) en route for Motherwell (45 mins) and Cumbernauld (1 hr) one way, Milngavie (20 mins) or Dalmuir (20 mins) the other.
Schools Primaries: Sgoil Ghàidhlig Ghlaschu (Glasgow Gaelic school) and St Patrick’s are “good” or “very good”, and Anderston “good”, says Education Scotland. Secondaries: Sgoil Ghàidhlig Ghlaschu again, or a walk to Hillhead High and Notre Dame High (girls), both of which lack current inspection reports.
Hang out at… Quite the culinary hub: Porter & Rye, the Finnieston, the Gannet, Ox and Finch, Alchemilla and Crabshakk are all in the Good Food Guide, and within a few hundred yards of each other. I could go on.
Where to buy A tale of three cities. To the north towards Woodside Place and Sauchiehall Street it’s all posh, leafy, Victorian tenements. To the south, around Argyle Street, the same only denser, less leafy and shabbier. Then it’s the Clydeside slabs of contemporary apartments. Flats: three bedrooms, £170,000-£250,000; two bedrooms, £140,000-£300,000; one bedroom, £100,000-£150,000. Rentals: a one-bedroom flat, £500-£800pcm; a three-bedroom flat, £700-£1,200pcm.
Bargain of the week A cool-looking one-bedroom flat in a lovely Victorian listed former barracks; £136,000, with doorsteps.co.uk.
From the streets
Calum Fraser “A fantastic food and drink scene. A young professional crowd and lots of students, too. Explore the Hidden Lane for nice independent shops and cool tearooms.”
Michaela Ball “House prices have jumped in the past few years; the council smartened it up last year with new pavements.”
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Do you live in Hebden Bridge? Do you have a favourite haunt or a pet hate? If so, email lets.move@theguardian.com by Tuesday 23 January.
