Sauchiehall Street () is one of the main shopping streets in the

city centre A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the Commerce, commercial, Culture, cultural and often the historical, Politics, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely e ...

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 ...

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 ...

, along with Buchanan Street and Argyle Street. Although commonly associated with the city centre, Sauchiehall Street is over in length. At its central west end is

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. ...

, followed by the Category-A listed crescents and terraces which lead up to Park Circus, finally meeting Argyle Street in the West End in front of

Kelvingrove Park Kelvingrove Park is a public park located on the River Kelvin in the West End of the city of Glasgow, Scotland, containing the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. History Kelvingrove Park was originally created as the West End Park in 1852, a ...

and the Kelvingrove Museum, where they merge to form Dumbarton Road, continuing through Partick.

Name

''Sauchiehall'' is a corruption of the Scots ; "abounding in

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...

s" and " river-meadow; level ground beside a river". can be mistaken for the Scots , pronounced the same, meaning

hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and the Early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gre ...

History

At its height, from 1880 to the 1970s, Sauchiehall Street was one of the most famous streets in

, and known internationally, due to its panoply of entertainment venues, galleries and high quality stores. The desire of wealthy merchants from 1800 onwards to own property on the outskirts of the city meant that Blythswood Hill and Garnethill started to be developed as part of the 'New Town of Blythswood'. Its first major developer was

William Harley William Harley (1767–1830) was a Scottish textile manufacturer and entrepreneur who is known for his early contributions to the city of Glasgow, including the development of the New Town of Blythswood, covering Blythswood Hill, and pioneering ...

of Bath Street fame, who also planned and developed Blythswood Square in the 1810s onwards. As a consequence, the meandering country road from the cathedral to Partick through the willows, and between these hills, acquired the name of the Saughie-haugh road. The first terraces of townhouses were built in the 1810s by William Harley. After it was widened in the 1840s it was named Sauchiehall Street and attracted more villas, tenement housing from 1860s, shops and eventually offices. A few of the original villas remained as of 1896, and lastly the 1960s, according to the

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

map of Central Glasgow. Over time, the street became home to a number of notable buildings. This included the Glasgow Empire Theatre which was opened in 1897 at 31–35 Sauchiehall Street. The theatre played host to big names such as Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Dorothy Lamour, Jack Benny and Danny Kaye before it closed on 31 March 1963. The

Royalty Theatre The Royalty Theatre was a small London theatre situated at 73 Dean Street, Soho. Established by the actress Frances Maria Kelly in 1840, it opened as Miss Kelly's Theatre and Dramatic School and finally closed to the public in 1938.

was also situated on Sauchiehall Street, opening in 1879 and showing operas, comedies and plays up until its lease ran out in 1913. Afterwards, during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, it was purchased by the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

to become a hostel for soldiers and sailors. The building lived out the rest of its days after the war as the Lyric Theatre, before it was demolished in the late 1950s. By the early 1900s the street contained theatres, picture houses, ballrooms, clubs, hotels, restaurants, art galleries and departmental stores such as Pettigrew & Stephens, Copland & Lye, Trerons, with theatres in adjacent streets, including the Kings Theatre in Bath Street, Theatre Royal in Hope Street and the Pavilion Theatre, in Renfield Street, and Glasgow Art School in Renfew Street. Glasgow's first "

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

", the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

style Beresford Hotel, was built further along Sauchiehall Street in 1938 for the Empire Exhibition, Scotland 1938. It later became offices for ICI and then a hall of residence for Strathclyde University before being converted into private apartments. Its "moderne" architecture was novel when it was built and the original mustard-coloured stonework with red fins was rather unkindly described as ''"custard and rhubarb architecture"''. In 2014 Sauchiehall Street was the subject of the documentary TV series ''The Street''.

Regeneration

In September 2019, a £7.2 million investment by Glasgow City Council as Sauchiehall Street Avenue was completed to help regenerate part of central Sauchiehall Street creating a multifunctional service verge, two-way cycle lane, two lane carriageway along with plantation of trees, shrubs and free wireless internet through the street.

City centre section

At the eastern end of Sauchiehall Street is the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and Buchanan Galleries, one of the largest city centre redevelopments in the UK. Sauchiehall Street formerly linked directly to Parliamentary Road at its eastern end, which continued through

Townhead Townhead (, ) is a district within the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is one of Glasgow's oldest areas, and contains two of its major surviving medieval landmarks – Glasgow Cathedral and the Provand's Lordship. In medieval times, Townhead was ...

to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. The section from West Nile Street to Rose Street was pedestrianised in 1972, with the easternmost part, linking to Buchanan Street, pedestrianised in 1978. The central part of the street consists of remaining retailers, the McLellan Galleries and the Willow Tearooms, designed in 1903 by

Charles Rennie Mackintosh Charles Rennie Mackintosh (7 June 1868 – 10 December 1928) was a Scottish architect, designer, water colourist and artist. His artistic approach had much in common with European Symbolism. His work, alongside that of his wife Margaret Macd ...

, which has been restored to its original artistic designs and is open to the public as a tea room, restaurant and Mackintosh venue centre. Nearby in Renfrew Street is the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Clubs and museums

At the western end of the city centre section of the street, towards

, there are restaurants, bars and student-oriented clubs. Landmarks in this area of the street, or near to it, include the former Beresford Hotel, Glasgow School of Art in Renfrew Street, the Glasgow Film Theatre in Rose Street, CCA Glasgow, the former McLellan Galleries, the Royal Highland Fusiliers Museum and the

Glasgow Dental Hospital and School The Glasgow Dental Hospital and School is a dental teaching hospital, situated in the Garnethill area of the city centre of Glasgow, Scotland. History The Glasgow Dental School was formed as part of Anderson's College in 1879. It moved to Dalh ...

References

{{coord, 55.86557, N, 4.26409, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Streets in Glasgow Shopping streets in Scotland Pedestrian streets in the United Kingdom History of Glasgow