This post covers the period from the building of New Kirk Square to 1940, and I was looking forward to presenting and analysing photos of the shops at New Kirk Square. While I have done this they are (to me) quite disappointing.
First, the photos we have were (usually) originally postcards and hence conform to unwritten rules that would encourage using a row of shops to frame a view along a road rather than being directly of a shop itself – there are one or two examples where we can see more details, but more usually the design is to draw the eye down the road.
Second, after duplicates I found about twelve photos, which is quite a lot when we are talking about a hundred years ago or more, but they are of three views: from Thorn Road looking to Roman Road, from the Cross looking up Drymen Road, and from Drymen Road by the school looking to the Cross. Thus the shop occupying the site that is currently Slater, Hogg and Howison does quite well, but we have no photos at all of New Kirk Road (at least, at its western end).
Of course, none of the photos are mine and I have acknowledged where I have copied them from whenever possible. The original photographers are, sadly, long forgotten.
From Drymen Road by the school looking to Roman Road
The first three photos fall in this group and cover the following shops:
Number 1 New Kirk Square (now Grace and Favour)
A stationer’s shop, initially run by Mrs Jean Gillies, then by Miss Lottie Niven, and finally by Lottie’s sister, Isabella.
Numbers 3 to 4 (recently The Scallop’s Tale)
A confectioner’s shop, initially run by William Coutts, then by James Maxwell & Son. Initially this was two shops, with William Higgins the jewellers occupying number 3, taken over by William Coutts and made into one shop by 1920.
Number 5 (currently KPs fishmongers and Barber at the Cross)
James Graham and Co fishmonger and poulterer throughout this period.
Photo 1:
This photo is from no earlier than 1907 (when New Kirk Square was built) and no later than 1910 (when the school on the right was knock down to be replaced by the building we see today).
Deciphering the wording above each shop, the one on the left (at the corner) says “WAREHOUSEMAN”, the full title being “James Lindsay, Grocer & Italian Warehouseman. The shop to the right says “JAMES GRAHAM”, then “HIGGINS”, “COUTTS” and on the right-hand shop “GILLIES”. I have a postcard version and the postmark is 28 June 1910. The card was commissioned by John Gillies to be sold in his shop (which may explain the choice of view!)
Photo 2 is of the same shops from a few yards further north on Drymen Road:
Credit is due to Andy Muldoon who originally posted it on the Bearsden Community FB page (link). Sheena Peters dates this photo to 1927 but does not quote a source; given that the war memorial was unveiled in 1924 yet a horse and cart is visible on the left, this seems plausible. James Graham’s shop is still there, Coutts has gone but the shop is still a confectioners, run by Maxwell (incorporating Higgins’ shop). Niven has taken over the stationers from Gillies.
Photo 3 is from the Cross, looking down Roman Road:
I am no expert on cars but am guessing this might be the early 1960s; Maxwell’s shop survives. Note the street sweeper with the brush, in conversation by the war memorial.
From The Cross looking along Roman Road
Moving to the corner of Drymen Road and Roman Road, we have four photos taken over a period of roughly 50 years. The shops covered are, of course, the same as in the first group, plus the corner shop:
Numbers 7 to 8 (currently Slater Hogg and Howison estate agents)
A grocer’s shop, James Lindsay and Co, to 1930 then the British Linen Bank.
Photo 4:
This is from one of Sheena Peters’ books. Dating: obviously 1907 or later but we have to look at the vehicles on the road (three carts and two bicycles?) and the fashion of the pedestrians. Maybe 1910, or 1915?
Photo 5:
This is from one of Sheena Peters’ books. Probably 25 years on from Photo 4 and spot the differences – a bank has replaced the grocers on the corner, the motor vehicles (is that a taxi with a bus behind?), and the war memorial. I’m intrigued by the text from the book about the boy a-courting. Does this mean the postcard version of the photo had writing on the back that specifically recorded this boy’s mission? It seems a bit unlikely.
Photo 6
This is from one of Sheena Peters’ books. Another photo of a similar angle, this time from … the 1960s? I am no expert on cars!
From the Cross looking along Drymen Road
This covers six additional shops:
Number 9 (currently Sutties pharmacy)
A dispensing chemist shop throughout this period, run by Joseph Suttie.
Number 11 (currently Vivi’s)
Initially a fruiterers, run by Jeannie Wood as Bearsden Fruit Market. The City Bakeries from 1935.
Number 12 (currently Wright and Crawford)
Initially a shoemaker (1915 John Greenlees), then a tailor’s (1920 Allan Gibson), then a dairy (1925 onwards, Margaret, Mary and Lilly Sellars)
Number 13 (currently Bearsden Barber)
A tobacconist’s shop throughout the period, run by James Cook.
Number 14 (currently Mini Moments) and Number 15 (currently the Hillhart Café)
Initially Number 14 was rented by Olaf Ploettner, a ladies’ hairdresser but by 1915 it was empty and number 15 was occupied by Eleanor Ross as a draper’s shop. In 1920 and 1925 they are recorded as a draper’s shop run by James Burnside, seemingly as a combined shop. From 1930, number 14 became a hairdresser’s shop again (initially Gilbert Lowe, then Miss Maie (sic) Lowe). Number 15 was occupied by Edward Hutton (trade uncertain) in 1935, then by Cooper and Co, part of a Glasgow grocery chain.
Photo 7: at last we shift the angle a little
I am no expert on horses either but the horse and cart does look similar to the one in Photo 4. Now we have a photo of JHC Suttie’s dispensing chemist shop, looking to have the doorway where it is today. On the left you can see the word “MARKET” – this refers to Bearsden Fruit Market.
Photo 8:
Credit to McKinlay and Hamilton (the photo is on the cover of their book). Peters dates this to 1915. After Lindsay’s on the corner and Suttie’s, we can see the Bearsden Fruit Market more clearly. The next shop along says “GREENLEES”, then “TOBACCONIST”, then “PLOETTNER” and finally “ROSS”.
Photo 9:
This photo is taken from one of Sheena Peters’ books. James Lindsay’s shop was still there in 1930 but gone by 1935. I notice the ladies walking past the Hillhart Café have coats and dresses to the knee (the list of things in which I am not an expert is growing, add women’s fashion) so I am guessing around 1930.
Photo 10:
This photo shows the British Linen Bank on the corner with Roman Road so it must be 1935 or after. Next to Suttie’s there is a sign for a tea room and the wording CITY BAKERES can just be made out above the door; alas this does not narrow the dating down any further.
Photo 11:
This is around the 1950s or 1960s so slightly out with my period. The shop to the left of City Bakeries appears to be Sloan’s.
The remaining shop in New Kirk Square with no photo was:
Number 17 (currently Amiry and Gilbride pharmacy)
Run throughout this period as an ironmonger run by Mrs Margaret Liddell.
The other shops we see today on the south side of New Kirk Road were initially built as residential flats and were subsequently converted:
Café Crème occupies what was number 20. In 1915 the occupant was John Stevenson, coachman, and from 1920 onwards John Miller, janitor.
Welsh Rarebit occupies what was number 21. Occupied by James MacArthur, joiner (1915-1925); Robert Robinson, clerk (1930); then Thomas Baird.
Bearsden Funeralcare is in what was number 23. Occupied to 1930 by James Coates, who was a grocer’s assistant (the 1921 Census records he was a salesman for James Lindsay & Co, which was at 8 New Kirk Square, currently Slater Hogg and Howison). In later years the occupier was James Stewart. (Mrs Elizabeth Stewart is recorded as the informant when John Thomson died – he ran a dairy on Douglas Place when it was first built.)