Dennistoun needs a park
Gregor posted on the 12/02/2015 4:48:08 PM
East End has a number of issues but a one simple one would make people living here much happier. People need a good green space, so what there's the beautiful Alexandra Park if it is so far away from Duke Street.. If I walk from the city centre to Dennistoun, I then have to make another tiring walk if I want to go to the park. That's bad spatial planning. An ideal place for a park would the undeveloped bit of land opposite Lidl.. because it would be on the way from the city centre so people can actually go through it and enjoy it. Maybe that would bring happiness to Denistoun because everyone seems rather grumpy and not willing to live here. Totally different in the West end!
- 28 Replies :
#1 - anon replied on the 13/02/2015 1:27:59 AM
if you live in the city centre there is always Glasgow Green, with a cycle track/walkway which passes alongside the clyde canal, Glasgow has plenty of parks if you take the time to look for them
#2 - anon replied on the 13/02/2015 6:31:48 PM
no i live in dennistoun but i walk along duke street to uni in the city centre. i've been in every park in glasgow. kelvingrove park works perfectly because it is located in the centre of attention and people can walk through it on their way to somewhere else. alexandra park is further off duke street but seems like miles when you go by foot. the duke street is a long stretch with nothing pleasant to look at along the way. plus so many abandoned properties/shops. dull and unattractive in itself, surely the residents would welcome a bit of green space on their way from the city centre. or at least a bench and some trees, somewhere to sit and read a book
#3 - Charlotte replied on the 13/02/2015 10:24:16 PM
There is a lovely green space adjacent to Cathedral Street, part of the University of Strathclyde campus. There is a small burn, green grass and benches. Walk through there and you get to Rottenrow where there is an expanse of green grass and places to sit. This is between Cathedral Street and George Street and en route to town.
If you walk from Duke Street, down Bellgrove/Abercromby Street to Glasgow Green you can walk through there en route to town.
You could also walk around the Necropolis, Cathedral Precinct and visit the small Zen Garden at the Religious Museum. There is also a mediaeval herb garden at the back of the Oldest House in Glasgow.
You could walk to Alexandra Park at the weekends when you are not walking west to town.
Plenty of green spaces within a one mile radius of Dennistoun.
#4 - Dennistonian replied on the 14/02/2015 7:35:03 PM
Wouldn't it be great if that space across Lidl could become some kind of urban garden like 'The High Line' in New York. Such a wasted space. Alternatively I think some kind of skate park but would need to be patrolled.
#5 - Gregor replied on the 15/02/2015 10:38:56 PM
It is a waste of space. What was there before/what's that huge building at the back? Anyway I think not many tourists get to see the east end.. good for them (for now) and good that the subway does not get this way. Glasgow needs tourists who bring some revenue so i think it would be advisable to try to create as pleasant views as possible.
Charlotte, there are some nice places around here, as you mentioned! But it's just that Duke Street... quite a tiring walk to the city centre, despite being in a straight line. the only place to sit is a bus stop. Necropolis and Glasgow Green are also nice but take time to get to, aren't in convenient places.
#6 - Alan replied on the 16/02/2015 10:24:48 AM
I live 10 walk from a beach ,dog loves it !!many memories all good of Alli park but hey that was the days when out the back air raid shelters were still there..
#7 - The Mentalist replied on the 16/02/2015 10:28:03 AM
The land in Duke Street was the abbitoir. It is owned by a property developed who is waiting for the market to pick up. Allegedly going to be a "business park".
#8 - Charlotte replied on the 16/02/2015 11:50:06 PM
Gregor - perhaps if you read a bit about the history of Duke Street and took more time to look at the buildings and street names, look at the details on the tenements, the wally tiles, the layout of the buildings, the environment, the building that used to be Duke Street hospital, the plaque to William Miller who wrote Wee Willie Winkie on Tennents Brewery Wall, the Brewery and all its artworks itself, think how lucky you are to walk past the vista to Glasgow Cathedral and the Necropolis, the high rise flats at Drygate that used to be a prison, the prison walls that still exist, the former Great Eastern Hotel that used to be a mill, the Molendinar burn that runs alongside the Great Eastern, the red brick facade of what was formerly a whisky bond, the land where the original University of Glasgow was, the beautiful Glasgow City Improvement Trust red sandstone buildings at Duke Street/High Street - if you open your eyes and gain a bit of knowledge - not boring in the slightest. Oh and it's the longest street in Britain. I've walked that walk more than a thousand times and I never tire of it. Enjoy.
#9 - jeanette replied on the 17/02/2015 1:30:56 PM
No doubt all you've said is valid Charlotte but I fail to see how any of it invalidates what Gregor says about the lack of green space along Duke St. I live in Australia but visit Glasgow fairly frequently and the walk from town towards Dennistoun along Duke St has for a number of years been less than inspiring. Because you have a lot of interesting history along the way doesn't mean that present day living couldn't be improved with a bit of parkland. It's not either/or.
#10 - G replied on the 17/02/2015 1:31:46 PM
I always respect the history! But I am writing this from a perspective of a visitor, a tourist. I am one of them myself, I've been in Glasgow only for 3 years. When someone comes to see the city over the weekend or short-term, of course they might have be here to see the historical places/monuments as their priority, and to appreciate the heritage. However most times people don't have the willingness or time to embrace the history of place. It is also different if you have lived in a city for half a century and know its beauty from the inside - however in these 'modern times' we have now, what might be more attractive to younger, craving for change, generations is the appearance of infrastructure, the built environment, how pleasant and practical in use it is, how interesting visually. A first impression someone gets when the see what they see. Sometimes what matters is the progress, the ability to move on. Dennistoun is full of infrastructural incivilities - aspects which make you feel negatively. Anything from dog mess to ugly looking buildings (dull colours), lack of liveliness of place, deserted streets, pollution, litter. I certainly don't feel lucky having to look at the hideous Holroyd Gallery at the corner of George and High Street. You see that once and you never come back.
#11 - Anon replied on the 17/02/2015 1:32:50 PM
Can cannot be serious I live in Duke Street and Alexandra Park is only a 10 minute walk, even my 4 year old manages it on a regular basis.
There are loads of parks in Glasgow city centre and we are within very close vicinity of two of the largest. It's not called the Dear Green place for nothing.
#12 - jeanette replied on the 17/02/2015 9:02:21 PM
It was named the 'dear green place' pre-industrial times.
#13 - David replied on the 18/02/2015 1:53:48 PM
I think it's still the case that Glasgow has the largest amount of green space per capita in Europe. We are not poorly served in terms of parkland - as others have pointed out from Duke St you have Alexandra Park 10 mins walk north, and Glasgow Green 15 mins walk south. I think most people in other cities would be happy with that.
I take your point that there are a few buildings around which could do with a spruce up, but I'm not sure that replacing them with parkland is the answer. If you're so offended by "infrastructural incivilities" then maybe a city isn't the best place for you to live.
#14 - Citizen's Arrest replied on the 18/02/2015 1:55:12 PM
Gregor, If you find walking from the city centre to Duke Street exhausting, and then walking from Duke St to Ally Park beyond the pale - surely a park (which you'd presumably have to WALK around in) would be too much for you regardless of where it's cited??
Maybe walking just isn't your bag.
#15 - Gregor replied on the 18/02/2015 4:27:27 PM
I've cycled from London to Paris and done football for 20 years, I don't get tired easily. What I was initially moaning about (a long way from here, at the top of the page..)was that there could be bit of green space with some benches, on the way from the city centre. There is a small one, past the brewery, but with no benches..
However I do get tired of those who think Glasgow is clean and healthy and colourful. It's far from that...
Even if Glasgow does have the largest amount of green space per capita in Europe, it doesn't stop Hope Street to be the most polluted street in Scotland. A lot of particulate matter which settles in your lungs and kills you, slowly.
Yet Glasgow has a beating heart under all that dirt and smog.
#16 - anon replied on the 18/02/2015 4:28:53 PM
Citizen's Arrest - //
I bet that duke street will remain boring for a long long time. maybe even one day someone will open a business there, and go bankrupt straight away...
#17 - Citizen's Arrest replied on the 18/02/2015 6:52:41 PM
>>>I've cycled from London to Paris and done football for 20 years, I don't get tired easily
Perhaps you didn't used to tire easily. But anyone who finds walking from Dennistoun to the city centre tiring is either elderly, disabled, very young, unfit or doing something wrong.
I would concede, as I think most people here would, that there is certainly room for improvement in Dennistoun. But budgets are finite and I can think of other ways to improve the area that don't involve adding yet more parkland to an area that is already well served by Alexandra Park and Glasgow Green.
#18 - Charlotte replied on the 19/02/2015 8:20:20 AM
Not sure that Gregor would be happy wherever he was.........
#19 - jeanette replied on the 19/02/2015 8:21:14 AM
I can't believe all the negative, defensive comments directed towards Gregor on this thread.He's not attacking Glasgow. He's suggesting a possible improvement. You don't have to agree with him but personal attack is below the belt. I notice that Citizen's Arrest also uses the terms "elderly, disabled, very young, unfit or doing something wrong" because gregor says it's tiring walking from the city and as if being in either of these categories disqualifies you from consideration. Why not consider those who would like somewhere pleasant to sit on their way home---fully-abled or otherwise.
#20 - G replied on the 19/02/2015 2:37:41 PM
Thanks Jeanette. People like to criticise regardless of how ambitious or unambitious the idea is, mainly due to their resistance to change. It's interesting from a psychological point of view, how humans behave or react to certain things, but I don't think it'd be a good topic for this forum. if you've lived in one place for too long, you get used to a certain standard. I never take such things seriously, luckily I have an open mind and visit a lot of countries, so I am exposed to a variety of behaviours, attitudes... nothing surprises me anymore :)
#21 - MarkZ replied on the 19/02/2015 3:32:14 PM
I think people in the East End have become a product of their environment.
#22 - Dennistonian replied on the 20/02/2015 10:36:23 AM
Maybe we should concentrate on the area that Gregor mentioned in the first place (the area opposite Lidl) and forget about the distances of local parks. Wouldn't we want to see even more green space than we have already? It's a prime example of underused space and how lovely would it be to stop off there if there was a little park with benches either on the way into Dennistoun or out and just enjoy the greenary. I for one would use it.
#23 - Lola replied on the 20/02/2015 10:37:29 AM
Totally agree with your idea, Gregor
#24 - Anon replied on the 20/02/2015 2:30:59 PM
It's a nice idea but isn't the space privately owned? If so, I wouldn't expect them to be interested in spending a lot of money doing the space up and then paying for the upkeep when they already have plans for it (even thought this may be some way in the future).
If it's council owned or if GCC would be responsible for it I'd rather they spent their money on things of a higher priority considering, as people have pointed out, Glasgow Green and Alexandra Park aren't too far away. There's also the new wee grassy bit on Gallowgate, near Glasgow Cross, which although doesn't take you far away from the roads, does give the chance to have a wee sit down outside.
Regardless of who is responsible for the space, I don't think it'll be high on anyone's 'To do' list.
It would be lovely but just because there isn't anywhere nice to look at/walk around from any one person's Point A to Point B doesn't mean one needs to be created. Unfortunately, we can't all have everything we want on our doorstep or control how everything in our area looks.
#25 - John replied on the 24/02/2015 12:43:18 PM
I think there are plenty of green spaces in Dennistoun for people to enjoy especially Alexandra Park. The four spaces that have been left vacant at the moment.... Bellgrove....Old Golfhill Primary School.... Old Haghill Primary School and Old Parade Cinema In my opinion are crying out for much needed housing to be built on them and GCC should pass these places onto the local housing associations to do so.
#26 - James Mc replied on the 24/02/2015 5:44:22 PM
Don't forget that if you walk up Whitehill St or Armadale St instead of the long curve of Cumbernauld Rd, then you will pass a few nice green squares (Whitehill Gardens, Onslow Square) that were intentionally left when the place was built over a century ago.
Cumbernauld Rd beside the railway was always the 'borderlands' between Dennistoun and Haghill and was never a nice place to walk even when I was growing up - only a couple of raggedy shops, and I'd much rather walk up Armadale or Whitehill past the Drives than walk there.
#27 - anon replied on the 1/03/2015 2:56:06 PM
@james
Whitehill Gardens and Onslow Square are being used by selfish dog owners as dogs toilets (and they don't pick up afterwards) so they are smelly and you cant even walk through them without getting your shoes covered in dog dirt
#28 - James Mc replied on the 4/03/2015 10:30:10 AM
Dog dirt has always been a problem in Dennistoun, there seems to be a culture of not picking it up, and I suspect that only wardens and fines will change that.
It was the same when I was growing up there in the 70s. I remember me and a mate were dragging each other in a plastic breadbasket we'd liberated from the Mini market on Whitehill St, toed a rope on, and he was pulling me down Whitehill St near the school when we went over a huge big pile of dog doings.
Unfortunately it came up through the wee square holes in the bottom like some sort of disgusting brown play-do :)
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