Byres Road
Byres Road is a street located in Hillhead, Glasgow and is the central artery of the city's West End.
[edit] Location and history
Byres Rd is a mixed commercial, shopping and upmarket residential area consisting largely of traditional sandstone tenements with retail premises on the ground floor and three floors of residential flats above. Its proximity to the University of Glasgow has meant that the surrounding West End of Glasgow is very bohemian, with a large student, academic and artistic population that includes Alasdair Gray, whose mural and ceiling paintings adorn the Ubiquitous Chip and the Oran Mor bars.
Stretching from Great Western Road at the Botanic Gardens in the north to Dumbarton Road at Partick Cross in the south, the road originally ran through a relatively rural area called the Byres of Partick (also known as Bishop's Byres). The oldest pub in the area is the 17th century Curler's, originally sited beside a pond used for curling and, legend has it, given a seven-day licence by King Charles II. The legend, 'Victoria Cross', on premises at the junction of Byres Road and Dowanside Road recalls a later attempt to rename the street Victoria Road (In the 1891 Census it is marked as Victoria Street) in honour of Queen Victoria. The plans were cancelled following objections by the residents.
Nearby lanes and by-ways, notably Ashton Lane, have benefited from the business of Byres Rd and now contain a variety of small businesses from tapas bars to second-hand record stores.
The North end of Byres Road is served by Hillhead station of the Glasgow Subway, while the southern end is closer to Kelvinhall on Dumbarton Road.
