The Wellington Bar – Glasgow Road at Clark Street

Looking East from Clark Street, here you see a Tram coming from Motherwell, Trams were introduced to Blantyre in 1903 when this photo was taken.

On the left is The Wellington Bar – Glasgow Road at Clark Street. A pub often frequented by the Lithuanian people of Blantyre and Burnbank, because of its famous Dark Light Beer.

If you look beyond the tram car on the left-hand side, you can make out a piece of a cart, then two poles, right on the second pole, there is a window with a white blind drawn down. Turning left here would be the entrance to Forrest Street.

On the left is the entrance into Clark Street. Clark Street again was made up of the same two storey type tenement building with some detached bungalows.

At the end of the street was another entrance into the Blantyre Victoria Football Park, the football Park was running from Forrest Street over to Clark Street, again in between all the tenement type buildings, there was the common washhouse and drying lines for clothes with the coal bunkers for storage.

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Blantyre Trams 1903

In 1888, the main form of public conveyance in Blantyre was the wagon and horses, with not even a bus service available until 1894. However, in 1900 the Tramways Bill authorised a tram route from Blantyre to Wishaw as part of the new development through Motherwell and Hamilton. The five pence service started running in 1903, the same year this photograph was taken, with over 30,000 passengers turning up along the route on opening day.

First Day of Blantyre Trams

You can imagine the excitement on this great day. The local inhabitants could now freely visit Hamilton, Motherwell and Wishaw.

These are the first trams leaving from Motherwell Cross on 6th October, 1903. By 1907 the tramlines also reached Cambuslang and onwards to Glasgow, the most difficult part of that extension getting over Priory Bridge.

With thanks for the kind permission of Rhona Wilson and Richard Stenlake Publishers to publish photos from the book, “Old Blantyre“.

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