Ingram Street is a major thoroughfare in the city of

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, the largest city in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The street runs east from Queen Street through the

Merchant City The Merchant City, a new name introduced through urban renewal by the Scottish Development Agency and the city council in the 1980s is one part of the metropolitan central area of Glasgow. It commences at George Square and goes eastwards reachin ...

until it meets

High Street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...

History

The street was formerly known as Back Cow Lone. Lone or Loan being an old Scots word for a cattle track or lane, which then also became used as a street name.

Re-naming of the street

Back Cow Lone was re-named to Ingram Street in 1781. The street was re-named in honour of Archibald Ingram, a Tobacco Lord, who became

Lord Provost A lord provost () is the convenor of the local authority, the civic head and the lord-lieutenant of one of the principal cities of Scotland. The office is similar to that of a lord mayor. Only the cities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Stirlin ...

of Glasgow in the 1760s.

Landmarks

At the western end of the street at the junction with Queen Street is the Gallery of Modern Art in Royal Exchange Square. There are several local landmarks on Ingram Street itself, such as the Italian Centre, the old Sheriff Court, Ramshorn Theatre, the

Hutchesons' Hall Hutchesons' Hall is an early nineteenth-century building in Ingram Street, in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland. It is owned and maintained by The National Trust for Scotland, and is a category A listed building. The current building was construc ...

and the amongst others. Ingram Street has, in recent years, become a haven for upmarket retailers such as

Polo Ralph Lauren Ralph Lauren Corporation is an American public company, publicly traded fashion and lifestyle brand founded in 1967 by Ralph Lauren in New York City. The company markets products in apparel, home, accessories, and fragrances, and is most known ...

, who operate a store on Ingram Street. United Colors of Benetton,

Mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of 19 species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 subordinat ...

, GANT, Crombie, Bose and Jigsaw among others also have stores on the street, with

Brora Brora ( ; ) is a village in the east of Sutherland, in the Highland (council area), Highland area of Scotland. Origin of the name The name ''Brora'' is derived from Old Norse and means "river with a bridge". History Brora is a small industri ...

expected to open in September 2017. Pretty Green opened their first permanent store on Ingram Street after the success of their

pop-up store Pop-up retail, also known as pop-up store (pop-up shop in the UK, Australia and Ireland) or flash retailing, is a trend of opening short-term sales spaces that last for days to weeks before closing down, often to latch onto a fad or scheduled e ...

Public transport

As a street which operates in two directions, unlike many in central Glasgow which are either one-way or fully pedestrianised, Ingram Street forms an important part of the city's taxi and bus corridor network.

Controversy

Many of the Tobacco Lords profited from the use of slaves to pick their tobacco crop. As part of the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...

campaign in 2020, many of Glasgow's streets in the Merchant City area - named after the Tobacco Lords - were unofficially renamed by anti-racism protesters. The protesters placed alternative street names celebrating prominent black men and women alongside the official street names. Ingram Street was alternatively named

Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross, – March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and social activist. After escaping slavery, Tubman made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including her family and friends, us ...

Street, after the celebrated abolitionist.https://twitter.com/Liam_O_Hare/status/1268955830948368385/photo/2

References

External links

{{coord, 55.85959, N, 4.24618, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Streets in Glasgow History of Glasgow