Latest news with #ByresRoad
BBC News
29-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
The artist who swept Glasgow's streets for 30 years
When Allan Richardson was 17 he wanted to go to art school, but one day he returned home from school to find his dad had secured him an interview for a job with the council."All I wanted to do was my art," said Allan. "But my dad said to me, 'you can do your art but you have to have something to keep you'."Allan went to the interview and the following Monday he started work as a "litter boy", going round the streets and emptying the took a back seat over the next decade as he worked in various council jobs before settling on sweeping the streets of Glasgow's west end. For 30 years, until his recent retirement, Allan kept the city's Byres Road and its surrounding streets clean but he also made sure he had his paint palette and sketchbook in his pocket. Drawing and painting almost every day during his lunch break, and often with his handmade sketchbook balanced on the bar of his cart, Allan quickly became accustomed to searching for the west end's hidden gems."People walk by going to work or university, or they're on a phone and they're just walking ahead thinking about where they need to be, but there is so much all around them."That was the good thing about my job, I would see all of that and think 'that's an interesting feature on that building, I might come back and draw that'." Allan, who is now 60, said the area had changed a lot over the three decades he cleaned and painted said Byres Road has always been a centre for students, but the butchers and jewellery stores of the past have now been swapped for chain takeaways and coffee a plan in his head as he swept the streets, Allan has painted hundreds of buildings in the west end from the cobbled backstreets and popular student hangouts to the Kibble Palace in the Botanic Gardens and the iconic tower of Glasgow University's Gilbert Scott Building."There's a lot of good architecture in the west end and there's a lot of history, which I really like," he said. Part of Glasgow west end's story Allan said one of the reasons he stayed in his job so long was the people he met and spoke to each day."For some of the older people in the area, chatting to me would make their day as they maybe wouldn't speak to anyone for a couple of days," he of the people Allan spoke to and became a close friend of was renowned Scottish writer and artist Alasdair Gray."I used to sweep his street," said said he had no idea who Gray was but the paintbrushes in his window had caught his attention as he passed by, so the next time Allan saw him, he asked if he was an artist."He invited me in to have a look around at his work but he never introduced himself," Allan said."It wasn't until later I discovered who he was, and I would chat to him like with any of the other locals."One day Gray asked Allan if he could draw him."I went to his flat and he sketched me," he said."A few years later, I discovered I was going to be on the new mural at Hillhead subway station after its refurbishment, which was fantastic."I can now go to the underground and see myself standing there with my brush as part of the story of the west end." Gray, who is best-known for his first novel Lanark, died in 2019. His Hillhead subway mural shows a panoramic and detailed sweep of the west end, from Byres Road looking east towards the centre of shows many of the streets Allan swept and drew for 30 years. Now retired, Allan said it's time to move on and learn something new as he hopes to do more art classes and explore new places in the city with his Glasgow Urban Sketchers group.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
New baked potato spot to open in Glasgow - and it will be giving away free spuds
An exciting new baked potato spot will open in Glasgow this weekend, and they will be giving out free spuds. Spuds will open on Byres Road in the West End on Saturday, May 31, 2025, at 11am. In a TikTok clip, the new eatery teased its opening in the city. READ MORE: Foodies buzzing as new eatery has opened in Glasgow READ MORE: Foodies buzzing for new baked potato spot in Glasgow In the video, they showed off the new venue, accompanied by the caption: "Opening this Saturday (May 31) at 11am with free potatoes until 2pm." After revealing the news, hungry foodies flocked to the comments of the post to share their excitement about it. One said: "Just booked annual leave. So excited." Another added: "This looks good." While a third chimed: "Ooh, good luck!"
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Free sandwiches will be given out to Glasgow customers with this name
A popular sandwich chain is offering free sandwiches to anyone with a name beginning with 'Nic' who visits their Glasgow branch. On Sunday, May 25, Pret A Manger at 268 Byres Road, near Glasgow Botanic Gardens, will be giving away free sandwiches to the first 50 people with a 'Nic'-name — whether that's Nick, Nicola, Nicole, Nicolette, or Nicholas. To claim, simply show your ID at the tills to prove your name begins with 'Nic'. Eligible customers can choose one freshly made sandwich from the Pret menu (baguettes, wraps, and rye rolls are not included). To make picnic preparation fun, participating branches across the country will take part in the scheme for one day only, with each branch selecting a different day.
