Friday 19 February 2010

Red Road Flats

The Red Road flats in Springburn consist of eight high-rise blocks of council housing  built in the 1960s, and were the highest flats in Europe at the time. In the late 60s and early 70s, the flats were much coveted by Glaswegian tenants but as the buildings fell into disrepair,  and as drugs and poverty ate away at the social fabric, they became a byword for social decline. By the end of 2009, many of the original tenants had gone, and many of those who came to Glasgow seeking asylum were housed here (and at a site adjoining Springburn, Sighthill).  The buildings were scheduled to be demolished in 2010. There is a wiki article, the neutrality of which has been questioned. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Road_(flats) 
The complex is the setting for Andrea Arnold's prize-winning film Red Road (2006). See also Bad Posters, Red Road Flats 2, Red Road Flats 3
















The flats from the beginning of Petershill Rd - a badly stitched blend of two pics this.


As you enter the complex, you are greeted by this remarkable poster (see also Bad Posters,  Springburn) which reminds all tenants they are scum if they choose food over rent,










A foray into merging two images in Photoshop which didn't work - but is pleasing





The Red Road Shopping Experience

2 comments:

  1. the red road flats shopping area used to be a very busy place in the 70,s and very early 80,s i remember the shops that used to be there when i was a child there was the presto supermarket a butchers a bakers a little shop owned by a pakistani man that sold brica brac the chemist r.s mccolls easyfit shoe store and a convenience store which is still there till this day but once they closed the presto store down it was begining of the end for the shops as one by one the shop owners gave up their shops and moved on the flats used to be a great place to play but now they look like a warzone i used to live in the shadow of the flats in oatfield street for most of my life i had great fun playing over in the flats as a wean but sadly its time for them to be raised to ground but ill always have fond childhood memories of those big houses in the sky

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  2. Hi Stuart - there is an exhibition coming in February - see
    http://www.redroadunderground.co.uk/?mid=5721

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