The Gorbals
The Gorbals, sitting across the River Clyde on the edge of Glasgow city centre has for centuries served as the arrival point for immigrants to the city; notably refugees from the Highland clearances, the Irish famines and the Jewish pogroms and more recently from Asia and Yemen. Overcrowded and notoriously violent after the war the area was raised to the ground to make way for the brave new modernist vision of Glasgow Corporation with Basil Spence's iconic high-rise blocks and the Queen Elizabeth Square shopping arcade. After only a few years, physical and social problems emerged and by 2000 the housing had been cleared. All the shops had long since closed but landlord James Clancey kept his pub open until the very end. He called last orders and handed the keys to the city's surveyor. In the dying light of the day I had time to take these few pictures. The next day the pub, post office and bookies were all rubble.