McAlpine’s Building

The next shop of any significance was the Labour Party Office. This was situated in a three storey block directly attached to the two storey known as McAlpine’s Building.

The building ended at the corner of Alpine Street. The McAlpine building was well known to everyone in Blantyre and more so to our family. This this where my Mum was born, and she lived here with her eight sisters and a brother.

One of the shops in this block was a fish and chip shop by the name of Allan’s. Everyone in Blantyre knew of this shop, as it sold the best Fish & Chips in Blantyre and it was always used as a reference point in Blantyre.

Betty McGaulley informs me that there was a Soup Kitchen behind Allen’s. Anyone remember?

On the corner of Alpine Street, William Hugh’s the grocer, Gibson’s store, Allen’s chip shop, McWilliamson the butcher shop, and Davidson’s Emporium, where you bought your linoleum and such like.

Just to get our bearings, here we have the Rear of McAlpine’s Building, after the West block was demolished, Brown’s Building and the Dookit. Craig Street across Glasgow Road with Harper’s Garage on the corner and at the top is the Miners Welfare and Calder Street School. You can also see the Wee School to the right with the dining hall behind.

Aerial View of Turners Building and Craig Street

Thomas Dunsmuir Hartman remembers, “You will see that the McAlpine building makes a right turn down Alpine Street. The homes down this street were the usual tenement type. The only thing unusual about this set up was that this whole block, the front of the block facing on to the Glasgow Road, and the buildings on the right-hand side of Alpine Street, plus a part of the public park all formed a square, and within this square, there were all these coal bunkers, washhouses, poles with lines stretched across them for drying the clothes that had just been washed, and the kids playing in between. I don’t know if you can picture this like I can, but it is a memory I have, and I can tell you it was something to behold, especially when the wind got up and started blowing any sheets around and the whipping type of noise that was created”.

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If you have any Photos… Send them to Bill

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