0:00:02 > 0:00:04The streets we live in reveal the
0:00:04 > 0:00:08secret past beneath the skin of the present.
0:00:08 > 0:00:13Here is our kitchen, which was the operating theatre of the hospital.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16There were families that didn't have toilets.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20There was many a visit to the drains in the middle of the night.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24Our memories are rendered in the bricks and mortar that surround us.
0:00:24 > 0:00:28Just behind you there, there's where we all danced.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31Our streets chart momentous social change, and
0:00:31 > 0:00:34the ebb and flow between enormous wealth and terrible poverty.
0:00:36 > 0:00:41Pretty grim, isn't it? Dirt, filth, stench everywhere.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44They reveal the changes that have shaped all our lives
0:00:44 > 0:00:48and make the story of our streets the story of us all.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51It's a nice view, isn't it?
0:00:54 > 0:00:58Duke Street, Glasgow, the longest street in Britain.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02Running from the city centre to the tenement blocks of the East End.
0:01:03 > 0:01:06But just 40 years ago many of the buildings that lined this
0:01:06 > 0:01:08street were under threat.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10- What are you going to do about it? - Knock them down.
0:01:11 > 0:01:15This is the story of how a group of neighbours took on the might
0:01:15 > 0:01:19of the Glasgow Corporation in a battle to save their homes.
0:01:20 > 0:01:21We're East Enders.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24Forget your London East Enders, we're the East Enders
0:01:24 > 0:01:27and we will fight to the death for what we believe in.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38Glasgow at the dawn of the 20th century.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42The heyday for the second city of the British Empire.
0:01:42 > 0:01:47Its shipyards, textile mills and heavy industry have made it
0:01:47 > 0:01:49the power-house of the Victorian and Edwardian age.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53Thousands are flocking to the city in search of work.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03Here on Duke Street the road is lined with stone buildings
0:02:03 > 0:02:04filled with small flats.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08Tenements, Glasgow's solution
0:02:08 > 0:02:12for housing its Victorian workers close to their place of work.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22In 1968, Harriet Stomboli moved in to her tenement that
0:02:22 > 0:02:24runs to the south of Duke Street.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30And this is where I used to live, 47 Bathgate Street, three up,
0:02:30 > 0:02:31right at the top.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33BUZZER RINGS
0:02:38 > 0:02:40I felt I had to get away from all the gossip that was
0:02:40 > 0:02:42going on at the time,
0:02:42 > 0:02:45'because at that time it was not very common for'
0:02:45 > 0:02:48women to leave their husbands and separate from their husbands, you
0:02:48 > 0:02:53know? So it was a kind of... I was in a very bad position at the time.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58This brings back lots and lots of memories,
0:02:58 > 0:03:00when I used to have this twin pram.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05But when you were bringing the children up you left
0:03:05 > 0:03:09the pram on the stair, you brought one up, put him in his cot, run back
0:03:09 > 0:03:14down, got the other one and brought her up and put her in her cot.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17Then you went down and you bumped the pram all the way up
0:03:17 > 0:03:19the three flights of stairs.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23So it wasn't easy when you had, especially a twin pram to do
0:03:23 > 0:03:26this with, because at the best of times the stairs were always
0:03:26 > 0:03:27quite heavy to climb.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31It's even worse now.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33I find that it wasn't so bad when I was younger.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39But this is where I had to bump the pram right up to.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41This was my door here.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43But then there was two doors, there was
0:03:43 > 0:03:46one there and one over at the side.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49The conditions for most people around here was over-crowding.
0:03:49 > 0:03:54That was the biggest problem I think in the area, was over-crowding.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58Harriet's family of six were squeezed in to a single room
0:03:58 > 0:04:00and kitchen, common at the time.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06Such scenes as this are typical of the unsatisfactory
0:04:06 > 0:04:09conditions of thousands of people in Glasgow today.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15So this is the little house I used to stay in with the children.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19This is the hall and this was a toilet.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22We didn't have a bathroom, it was just all toilet.
0:04:22 > 0:04:24And in here was our sitting room.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30And we used the sitting room as a bedroom, as well.
0:04:32 > 0:04:37This couple came to my house one night, my sister's friends who were
0:04:37 > 0:04:42living in big houses in England, nice big houses. The first thing
0:04:42 > 0:04:46they asked when they'd seen the house, "Where are your bedrooms?"
0:04:46 > 0:04:49And I said "Well, I don't have any bedrooms."
0:04:50 > 0:04:54And they kind of stopped talking and looked at each other and went,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57"No bedrooms, how can you have a house without bedrooms?
0:04:57 > 0:04:59"Where do you sleep?"
0:04:59 > 0:05:01So I showed them we sleep on this couch,
0:05:01 > 0:05:04it pulls down in to a bed in the sitting room.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09In here was a kitchen...
0:05:09 > 0:05:12and this was exactly the size of the kitchen.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17An alcove here, this wasn't a door or there was no facing on it,
0:05:17 > 0:05:20it was just a big alcove.
0:05:20 > 0:05:22And in here was two bunk beds
0:05:22 > 0:05:26and a single pull-down bed that my oldest son slept in.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30They kept talking about it, even when they went back home,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33they sent me a letter and said how sorry they were for me
0:05:33 > 0:05:36that I didn't have a house with bedrooms.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39But, I mean, that didn't bother me, but it really upset this
0:05:39 > 0:05:43couple that I didn't have any bedrooms in this house, you know?
0:05:43 > 0:05:45You were sleeping, you were eating
0:05:45 > 0:05:48and you were cooking all in the one room.
0:05:48 > 0:05:49So it wasn't an easy task,
0:05:49 > 0:05:53but we did it very well, as best we could anyway.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55It was a very small house.
0:05:55 > 0:06:00Harriet's room and kitchen was just one of 1500 flats in an area
0:06:00 > 0:06:02now called Reidvale.
0:06:03 > 0:06:10The map from 1884 reveals row upon row of newly built tenement blocks.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14They extend across nine streets running south of Duke Street.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20It was a respectable working-class neighbourhood
0:06:20 > 0:06:23and the people of the tenements made this street the bustling
0:06:23 > 0:06:25and thriving heart of the East End.
0:06:28 > 0:06:29Duke Street was always busy then
0:06:29 > 0:06:32because that's where everybody done their shopping,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35so everybody on a Saturday afternoon was in Duke Street.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39I mean, it was always busy, bustling, you know,
0:06:39 > 0:06:41having to walk sideways to get by people.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44Duke Street had everything you really wanted,
0:06:44 > 0:06:47from hat shops to children's shops.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51You know, they had men's shops, they had Gold's, the wool shop.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55There was Massey's, Curly's, Henry Healy's.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57They had bakers, they had butchers.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59Little Folk, it was more for the people with money,
0:06:59 > 0:07:02and you went in there if you had a lot of money.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04I shopped in Bobby's for my children's clothes
0:07:04 > 0:07:07because I couldn't have afforded to go anywhere else.
0:07:10 > 0:07:11This one's probably a good one,
0:07:11 > 0:07:16which kind of shows obviously the number 53 here, and that's
0:07:16 > 0:07:20myself, my twin brother, my Aunt June, my gran and my grandpa.
0:07:21 > 0:07:25Paul Cowan came to live on Bathgate Street when he was four years old.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30His grandfather, John Butterly, had raised his family of three
0:07:30 > 0:07:34daughters just along the street from Harriet Stomboli and her family.
0:07:41 > 0:07:42So how many of you lived here?
0:07:42 > 0:07:47In this one flat there would've been three, five, seven of us.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51My gran, my grandpa, my mum, my aunt and the three of us.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56That was my gran and grandpa's bedroom, from memory.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58They were the only two in there
0:07:58 > 0:08:02and everybody else was crammed in to the other room. So there was
0:08:02 > 0:08:07a bunk bed with myself and my twin brother and my older brother and
0:08:07 > 0:08:10then there was a double bed which had my mum and my Auntie June in it.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15John and his wife were home movie enthusiasts.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23It's a unique record of Duke Street's tenement life,
0:08:23 > 0:08:26capturing family and neighbours in the closes
0:08:26 > 0:08:29and backcourts in the late 1960s and 1970s.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38We would hang about in here in the summers and stuff with them,
0:08:38 > 0:08:40and it was just always a nice garden.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43I always helped my grandpa in the garden and stuff like that as well,
0:08:43 > 0:08:46and just kind of try and be around about him more than anything else.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49And Paul appears in the film with his brothers.
0:08:49 > 0:08:50He's here wearing a white top.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57I loved living here. I loved it, absolutely loved it.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00The people were brilliant, it was a community.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04You lived with other families up the close or across the street or,
0:09:04 > 0:09:08you know, there was maybe five or six families all with kids
0:09:08 > 0:09:10the same age and we all just ran about together.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26There was always children out playing
0:09:26 > 0:09:29and people standing talking at closes.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32And it was a community street, I would say.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34Everybody seemed to know each other.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44This is Prince and this is Vicky, these are my twins.
0:09:46 > 0:09:48- And it was a happy house. - A very good house.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52A very happy house. Although it was over-crowded, aye.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54We didn't know any different at that time.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58- We were all kids and it was just like one big playground to us. - That's right.
0:09:58 > 0:10:00I used to go at the window when they were out playing to call them
0:10:00 > 0:10:03up for dinner and things, and I used to shout at whoever it was that
0:10:03 > 0:10:07was out playing, I used to shout "Diane, come up, dinner's ready.
0:10:07 > 0:10:12"Vicky, come up, dinner's ready. Prince, come up, dinner's ready."
0:10:14 > 0:10:18So one of my friends used to think I had quite a lot of children
0:10:18 > 0:10:19and a dog.
0:10:19 > 0:10:20SHE LAUGHS
0:10:20 > 0:10:27In 1965, the Glasgow Herald reported that 40% of Glasgow's housing
0:10:27 > 0:10:30stock still had no plumbed bath or shower.
0:10:30 > 0:10:3520% had no inside toilet. 40% had no hot water supply.
0:10:36 > 0:10:4010 years later, this lack of the most basic amenities was
0:10:40 > 0:10:41still the norm on Duke Street.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47When they went to school at first, and they were tiny little
0:10:47 > 0:10:50children, the wee-ist children was at school, even the teachers
0:10:50 > 0:10:53thought I only had dressed them up because their big sister was
0:10:53 > 0:10:56going to school, you know, but they were actually starting the school.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00And the teachers were going like we've never had such small children, you know?
0:11:00 > 0:11:02- But it ended up... - Basically we were midgets.
0:11:02 > 0:11:03Not quite, son.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08Glasgow town planners had historically linked poor
0:11:08 > 0:11:12housing to poor health, high infant mortality, rickets,
0:11:12 > 0:11:15malnutrition, typhus and cholera.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20In the one-room or single end of the poorer district, the height and
0:11:20 > 0:11:24weight of boys of 10 years was found to be 3' 11'' and 52lbs.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28In two-room houses, 4' 1'' and 56lbs.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33And in three-room houses, 4' 2'' and 59lbs.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41Glasgow Corporation was saying Harriet's children were small
0:11:41 > 0:11:43because her flat was over-crowded.
0:11:46 > 0:11:50- I mean by the sink over at the window...- Used to get baths.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52That's where we used to get bathed every Sunday night.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55- That was our ritual, wasn't it? - Yeah.
0:11:55 > 0:11:56It used to be terrifying.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02I didn't think it was to youse, but I did learn that later
0:12:02 > 0:12:04they used to be frightened of sitting in the sink.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06I was just terrified of people looking up
0:12:06 > 0:12:09and seeing little kids in the kitchen sink. Getting washed.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13- But that's how everybody done it. - That's what it was like, yeah.
0:12:13 > 0:12:14That's what it was like.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18Duke Street may have been over-crowded, but it wasn't a slum.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21Evidence of its respectable working-class
0:12:21 > 0:12:22origins are still seen.
0:12:24 > 0:12:26The public baths were a gift to the local
0:12:26 > 0:12:28population from a wealthy benefactor.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33Once a week, walk down this road with my pram with all
0:12:33 > 0:12:38the washing in it and we came here to do the weekly wash.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43Luxurious for their time, they boasted a Turkish bath,
0:12:43 > 0:12:47a gymnasium and a reading room, as well as the public baths
0:12:47 > 0:12:50and wash-house known as the steamie.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52But in that one main building was the steamie,
0:12:52 > 0:12:54was the most important thing.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57It was called the steamie because everybody came here to
0:12:57 > 0:12:59do their washing that didn't have washing machines in them days.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03Because it got you out for a wee while, as well.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07You know, and then you met people and had a good blether as well, so...
0:13:07 > 0:13:09Moaning about their husbands, you know,
0:13:09 > 0:13:11which was the biggest thing I think to go on in the steamie,
0:13:11 > 0:13:16was you talked about your life, you know, and the kids and your husband.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20They moaned about you when they were in the pub.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23We didn't go to the pub, we went to the steamie.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26But it was a nice place to come to. I liked the steamie, it was good.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31My friend, Anne Lowry, always came with me.
0:13:31 > 0:13:36She with her pram and her wee-uns and me with my pram and my wee-uns.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40No, I only used to bring one. One child that wasn't at school,
0:13:40 > 0:13:42so Mario was the one I used to bring.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44He doesn't remember ever coming to the steamie either.
0:13:44 > 0:13:48He does say, "I think, mum, you put the washing in the pram
0:13:48 > 0:13:51and made me walk." And I said, "Probably I did, son,"
0:13:51 > 0:13:53because I only had one pram, you know?
0:13:53 > 0:13:58The Whitevale Baths and wash-house finally closed its doors in 1988.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02Unsafe and disused it was partly demolished in 2012,
0:14:02 > 0:14:04but what remains is now listed.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10If I won the lottery I would buy this building, because I think it is
0:14:10 > 0:14:14the most lovely building going to waste and I would convert it in to
0:14:14 > 0:14:20something for our area that would do benefit to the people of Reidvale.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22I would definitely buy this building if I won money.
0:14:22 > 0:14:27This fine Victorian building made of marble, stone and brick,
0:14:27 > 0:14:30with its reading rooms and luxurious baths,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33was built for an area with aspirations,
0:14:33 > 0:14:36because at the time there were high hopes for Duke Street.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41In 1891, one of the most extraordinary events was to
0:14:41 > 0:14:44play out along this street.
0:14:44 > 0:14:48Monday 26th October in the afternoon,
0:14:48 > 0:14:52three specially commissioned trains arrived just over here,
0:14:52 > 0:14:57bringing Buffalo Bill's Wild West to Dennistoun.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04They brought with them several hundred horses.
0:15:04 > 0:15:10They brought one Texas steer, four cows and a herd of 18 buffalo,
0:15:10 > 0:15:13which were all herded up this street.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20Now, obviously you don't want a buffalo stampede on Duke Street.
0:15:23 > 0:15:28And I believe that the cowboys rode in a square around them
0:15:28 > 0:15:30to keep the buffalo moving.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38Buffalo Bill moved on to the site of the previous year's East End
0:15:38 > 0:15:39exhibition,
0:15:39 > 0:15:43held at an old reform school just up the hill from Duke Street.
0:15:50 > 0:15:55Well, that is Colonel WF Cody, otherwise known as Buffalo Bill.
0:15:59 > 0:16:03You had the first show on the evening of Monday 16th November,
0:16:03 > 0:16:05only played to 6,000 people,
0:16:05 > 0:16:08so there were obviously tickets available.
0:16:08 > 0:16:10By the time word got round,
0:16:10 > 0:16:13that first Saturday they were turning people away.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18The show played to a packed house over three months.
0:16:18 > 0:16:23More than 600,000 people came to see Buffalo Bill and his Indians,
0:16:23 > 0:16:26more than the entire population of Glasgow.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33Don't fall in to the misconception that these guys,
0:16:33 > 0:16:36these Indians were just actors made up to look like Indians,
0:16:36 > 0:16:38these guys were the real deal.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40There was about 50 or so of them.
0:16:41 > 0:16:48The majority of them enlisted voluntarily, but 17 of them were
0:16:48 > 0:16:53prisoners of war from the trouble which erupted the previous winter.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57The government didn't really know what to do with them, so
0:16:57 > 0:17:00Buffalo Bill came along and said, "Look, why don't I take these guys to Europe,"
0:17:00 > 0:17:03because this was actually an old trick going back to Colonial times.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07If you'd hostile Indians you'd take them back East and say "Look,
0:17:07 > 0:17:10"the white man's world, the world that's is here is massive,
0:17:10 > 0:17:11"you can't fight us."
0:17:12 > 0:17:15The people of Duke Street came face-to-face with another world
0:17:15 > 0:17:18when they met real-life native Americans.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22The show was based up there and, of course,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25you'd get the Indians during their time off they'd come
0:17:25 > 0:17:27promenading down and on to Duke Street.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33At first it was obviously a very intimidating sight,
0:17:33 > 0:17:37a very novel sight, exotic sight for the local people.
0:17:37 > 0:17:38You didn't have immigrants then,
0:17:38 > 0:17:42when all of a sudden you have this encampment of Sioux Indians.
0:17:42 > 0:17:43You know, it's all a bit mad.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45But I think people got quite blase,
0:17:45 > 0:17:48they just became part of the scenery after a while.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52Buffalo Bill had come to Duke Street
0:17:52 > 0:17:55because it was the centre of a heaving metropolis.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59He was proved right as thousands came every night to see his show.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05His wagon train finally departed Duke Street on the
0:18:05 > 0:18:0727th February, 1892.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13This was a period of rapid expansion for the city
0:18:13 > 0:18:15and the industrial working class.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18Labourers and artisans migrated from the Highlands
0:18:18 > 0:18:23and over from Ireland to work in the shipyards, steelworks and factories.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28Glasgow was one of the fastest growing cities in the world.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34The population quadrupled between 1800 and 1850.
0:18:35 > 0:18:42Between 1850 and 1925 it quadrupled again, to peak at 1.1 million.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48Twice the rate that London was expanding in the same period.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51And its housing strained under this relentless demand.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55In Duke Street the tenements had all been built
0:18:55 > 0:18:57and they were full to bursting.
0:19:03 > 0:19:08In 1950, Glasgow was Britain's most densely populated city.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15Its stone tenements had become a symbol for poverty, disease,
0:19:15 > 0:19:19crime and over-crowding on a daunting scale.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24So you've come to Glasgow, have you?
0:19:24 > 0:19:26Pretty grim, isn't it?
0:19:26 > 0:19:29Dirt, filth, stench everywhere.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34And believe me, there are literally hundreds of backcourts every
0:19:34 > 0:19:36bit as bad as this in Glasgow.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46We were living in the slums, rat-infested.
0:19:46 > 0:19:48I remember looking out the window and watching rats climbing
0:19:48 > 0:19:51out of the midgie bins, and rats running about the closes.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53I was in fear to go up my close one day
0:19:53 > 0:19:55because there were a big rat sitting there.
0:19:55 > 0:19:57John Mallon was a child living in an area called
0:19:57 > 0:20:00the Gallowgate to the south of Duke Street.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04If you walked through the tenements in Glasgow you walked in a maze,
0:20:04 > 0:20:07because you were so small and the buildings were so high.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09And it just seemed to be a corner after a corner.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14As Britain moved in to the post-war world with high hopes, the
0:20:14 > 0:20:18Glasgow Corporation was determined that something had to be done.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23Their approach was as radical as it proved controversial.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26There's Glasgow, 40,000 acres.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31And this small patch represents 2,000 acres,
0:20:31 > 0:20:36and on that is crammed 150,000 of the city's dwellings.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40That is half the dwellings on a 20th of the space.
0:20:40 > 0:20:42- But that's ridiculous. - Of course it is.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44- What are you going to do about it? - Knock them down.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55Slum dwellings, starting in the Gorbals area,
0:20:55 > 0:20:57were Compulsory Purchased by Glasgow Corporation
0:20:57 > 0:21:02and then razed to the ground to make way for their vision of the future.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08Glasgow today takes a look in to tomorrow as the Corporation puts
0:21:08 > 0:21:12on an exhibition foreshadowing the proposed new inner core of the city.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15A scale model, 100th full size, shows the bold
0:21:15 > 0:21:19outline of the Glasgow to be, in sharp contrast to the city that was.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23The Bruce Report, published in 1945, recommended the wholesale
0:21:23 > 0:21:27destruction of the centre of Glasgow and the rebuilding
0:21:27 > 0:21:33of an entire city from scratch over a period of 50 years.
0:21:33 > 0:21:39That way Glasgow would transform in to a healthy and beautiful city.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42Although later watered down, it did become the blueprint
0:21:42 > 0:21:46for the complete demolition of vast swathes of tenement slum housing.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51The aim was to rehouse a quarter of a million people
0:21:51 > 0:21:53living in central Glasgow, and move them
0:21:53 > 0:21:58out in to new council estates built on the rural edge of the city.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03We really moved because it was me, my mother, my father,
0:22:03 > 0:22:05my brother and then my other brother.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08My mother was pregnant with my other brother.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11And we stayed in a one-bedroom house, so we had to move.
0:22:11 > 0:22:13And we got a house in Easterhouse.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16John Mallon was eight
0:22:16 > 0:22:18when his family were moved out to Easterhouse.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23It was one of the largest of the new estates or "schemes."
0:22:25 > 0:22:26I loved it.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29I have my happy memory sitting in the back, building a fire,
0:22:29 > 0:22:31sitting till five in the morning.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34I used to kid on I was camping out and just sit at a fire all night.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37And so that was my hobbies.
0:22:37 > 0:22:42And egg hunting and making swings and building dens
0:22:42 > 0:22:44and just being free.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46That's what Easterhouse was really about.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56Sometimes it seems as if there are more removal vans in Glasgow
0:22:56 > 0:22:57than buses.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01At any rate, statistics show that every five to ten minutes
0:23:01 > 0:23:03somebody somewhere is moving house.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08Tens of thousands of people were shipped out of the city
0:23:08 > 0:23:09and in to the schemes.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14Brand-new state-of-the art housing was waiting for them, set
0:23:14 > 0:23:18in green fields with the promise of fresh air and a world away from the...
0:23:18 > 0:23:21Dirt, filth, stench everywhere.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25This was not a modern idea.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29The concept of a healthy life away from the dangerous over-crowded city
0:23:29 > 0:23:35centre had been tried before, and it had taken place on Duke Street.
0:23:38 > 0:23:43This map allows us to go back 160 years to 1843.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47Glasgow is in the grip of a typhus epidemic.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54A Glaswegian doctor, Robert Perry, attempts to explain
0:23:54 > 0:23:59the spread of disease by linking it to crime, poverty and over-crowding.
0:24:00 > 0:24:05He draws a colour-coded map of the city, and Duke Street appears
0:24:05 > 0:24:09on this map, part coloured red, denoting high levels of disease.
0:24:11 > 0:24:15But Perry's map shows Duke Street to be a dividing line
0:24:15 > 0:24:19between factories to the south and the green fields and trees of the
0:24:19 > 0:24:23estate of James Dennistoun to the north, where there is no disease.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28Ten years later,
0:24:28 > 0:24:32his family would have a grand plan to create a new suburb
0:24:32 > 0:24:36of moral rectitude, clean living, god-fearing and alcohol-free.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41The idea for the garden suburb is a pet idea of his he wished to
0:24:41 > 0:24:42develop.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45He had a concern... He was a moral person, obviously, he had
0:24:45 > 0:24:48a concern about the health and the welfare of society at all levels.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54His son, Alexander, engaged one of the city's finest architects,
0:24:54 > 0:24:59James Salmon, to plan a 200-acre estate of avenues,
0:24:59 > 0:25:02boulevards and parks and gave it the family name, Dennistoun.
0:25:09 > 0:25:10This was the first street built,
0:25:10 > 0:25:14and the villas here I think were the first on the estate.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16They were then connected up.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18Craigpark was started, then the idea of connecting them
0:25:18 > 0:25:21up with the various terraces was the next aspect.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27I think one of the things, it's quite important to understand
0:25:27 > 0:25:30this as a terrace in the context to Dennistoun is it was
0:25:30 > 0:25:33originally supposed to be terraces and boulevards.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36So, you know, we've actually got a complete one here.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40John Tweed's 1872 guide of Glasgow
0:25:40 > 0:25:45and the Clyde recommends the pleasant suburb of Dennistoun, "It is
0:25:45 > 0:25:48"well laid out and contains many fine villas and lodges."
0:25:50 > 0:25:54This, I think, originally had some seven or eight manses in there.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56I know personally of three or four ministers,
0:25:56 > 0:25:59and I think there's still a minister living just along there.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02The manse, or vicarage,
0:26:02 > 0:26:05is now the home of the Reverend Barbara Quigley.
0:26:06 > 0:26:12I think this manse was built by James Salmon for a friend
0:26:12 > 0:26:14of his, so this has got kind of bells and whistles on it.
0:26:14 > 0:26:21It's got the curved staircase and the double arch there, which is
0:26:21 > 0:26:26I think rather stunning, but then this is my house, so I love it.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31It's got a lovely skylight there,
0:26:31 > 0:26:35throws a lot of light in to what would be a dark space.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40But when the rain starts it's like River Dance.
0:26:44 > 0:26:49I love this room. It's really, really great.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53It's got all this fantastic ceiling and cornicing and frieze.
0:26:55 > 0:27:00And, of course, having your own access to what is essentially
0:27:00 > 0:27:03a private garden means that you've got a beautiful view.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10It explodes the myth of the image of the East End of Glasgow.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14It blows it wide open. It's a hidden gem.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21Dennistoun wanted to attract the professional classes
0:27:21 > 0:27:25to his utopian vision, doctors, lawyers and ministers.
0:27:26 > 0:27:30But as the East End of Glasgow's industrial heartland grew,
0:27:30 > 0:27:34so did the factories and tenements expanding along Duke Street.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39Dennistoun's lower-class neighbours were proving a little too
0:27:39 > 0:27:40close for comfort.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43This is originally a gated community,
0:27:43 > 0:27:46and at one point there seems to have been some type of sentinel
0:27:46 > 0:27:50post here, whereby it looks like it was manned.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53It also had various different arrangements, it was scarlet
0:27:53 > 0:27:55and the posts have been moved, but that gives you
0:27:55 > 0:27:58an idea of exclusivity for this area. There's two main
0:27:58 > 0:28:02entrances, Westercraigs and Craigpark, they were actually gated.
0:28:02 > 0:28:04You needed to have a reason to come in here.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09Dennistoun's dream had been to manufacture an idealised
0:28:09 > 0:28:11community for the professional classes.
0:28:13 > 0:28:17100 years later, Glasgow Corporation had the same vision,
0:28:17 > 0:28:19but for its more impoverished citizens.
0:28:21 > 0:28:23# I said, "My man, tell if you can
0:28:23 > 0:28:25# "How you come to be here?"
0:28:25 > 0:28:27# He said I live in Easterhouse
0:28:27 > 0:28:29# I flitted there last year
0:28:29 > 0:28:33# Everybody's flitted out to Easterhouse last year
0:28:33 > 0:28:38# Everybody in the world has flitted out to here.
0:28:38 > 0:28:40# There's everyone you know
0:28:40 > 0:28:42# Uncle Joe and Auntie Mo
0:28:42 > 0:28:44# All flitted out to Easterhouse last year
0:28:46 > 0:28:49# It's in the steaming jungle and... #
0:28:51 > 0:28:56But by the late 1960s and early '70s, their imagined suburban
0:28:56 > 0:29:00utopia was a social experiment that had gone badly wrong.
0:29:01 > 0:29:0340,000 people live here.
0:29:03 > 0:29:07They have no public toilets, no banks, theatres or cinemas.
0:29:07 > 0:29:11There isn't a dance hall in Easterhouse or a restaurant,
0:29:11 > 0:29:14a community centre, or even a place to collect the dole.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20A displaced population struggled with unemployment,
0:29:20 > 0:29:23gang culture, and crime became rampant.
0:29:25 > 0:29:29# Everybody's flitted out to Easterhouse last year
0:29:29 > 0:29:33# Everybody in the world has flitted out to here. #
0:29:33 > 0:29:36No doubt about it, the gangs were there.
0:29:36 > 0:29:38And you joined the gang.
0:29:39 > 0:29:43When I go back to Easterhouse I still get called a Skinhead boy,
0:29:43 > 0:29:46right, people say that, and I've still got a nickname,
0:29:46 > 0:29:48and my nickname is Jinky.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51I mean I go back to Easterhouse, I'm Jinky Mallon of Skinheads.
0:29:51 > 0:29:53Even though I'm 50, I'm still Jinky from Skinheads.
0:29:54 > 0:29:56I loved the gangs. I loved it.
0:29:56 > 0:29:59I loved to gang fight, I loved being part of a gang and everything.
0:29:59 > 0:30:01And it was all about moving out of your area.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04You could not move out of your area in Easterhouse.
0:30:04 > 0:30:06If you did go anywhere you had to take ten-handed.
0:30:06 > 0:30:09The very structure of the estate helps the gangs to enforce
0:30:09 > 0:30:12the strictest code of all, that boundary lines are sacred
0:30:12 > 0:30:14and you cross them at your own risk.
0:30:14 > 0:30:18The playing field separates Drummy land from the Den-Toi territory.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23A road marks the dividing line between Packland and the Den-Toi.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28That was your territory and you guarded that territory.
0:30:28 > 0:30:29It doesn't matter where you went.
0:30:29 > 0:30:33Even if you was going to a dentist, if your dentist was in another
0:30:33 > 0:30:36part of Easterhouse, just say Aggro, you had to take your pals
0:30:36 > 0:30:39with you, because you couldn't go to that place yourself.
0:30:41 > 0:30:47By 1975 over a 120,000 people had been moved into the schemes,
0:30:47 > 0:30:49and 95,000 homes had been demolished.
0:30:51 > 0:30:53But the Corporation was running out of money.
0:30:57 > 0:31:00Despite this, it was still pressing ahead with demolishing
0:31:00 > 0:31:02the city's tenements.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05Vast swathes of Glasgow were now wasteland.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20In 1975, the Corporation's bulldozers were
0:31:20 > 0:31:22heading for Duke Street.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28Irene McInnes was 19 when she settled into her tenement
0:31:28 > 0:31:29flat off Duke Street.
0:31:31 > 0:31:33This was our first flat.
0:31:33 > 0:31:36This is where I got married in to Bathgate Street,
0:31:36 > 0:31:39the top flat up there.
0:31:39 > 0:31:43We bought the house in November, 1966,
0:31:43 > 0:31:48and we moved in on the 9th June, 1967, the day we got married.
0:31:48 > 0:31:52We weren't allowed to stay with anyone, in my day, before that,
0:31:52 > 0:31:54so we moved in on our wedding day.
0:31:55 > 0:32:00It was two bedrooms and an inside toilet, and we were very posh
0:32:00 > 0:32:02because there's not a lot of people at that time
0:32:02 > 0:32:06bought their houses or bought their flats and Tom and I were delighted.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09But, unfortunately, we could only live in the living room
0:32:09 > 0:32:12and the bedroom, because we could not afford the furniture.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16Duke Street was still a thriving and bustling street at this time,
0:32:16 > 0:32:20but nevertheless its tenements were scheduled for demolition or
0:32:20 > 0:32:22"comprehensive redevelopment."
0:32:23 > 0:32:26We got a notice through the door, public meeting called,
0:32:26 > 0:32:30Thomson Street School, this school here, for everybody,
0:32:30 > 0:32:34every tenant or owner to come and hear what this meeting
0:32:34 > 0:32:36was about, it would be something to your interest.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39There's "threat, big threat", I think
0:32:39 > 0:32:41they had that in big writing, BIG THREAT.
0:32:41 > 0:32:43Knock them down!
0:32:44 > 0:32:46And they were telling us all about how
0:32:46 > 0:32:50they wanted the whole south side of Duke Street to be demolished.
0:32:50 > 0:32:52Harriet was sitting with a neighbour, John...
0:32:52 > 0:32:54- John Butterly. - John Butterly.
0:32:54 > 0:32:58He was quite calm at the beginning, and then later on, when the guy said
0:32:58 > 0:33:02they were pulling down the houses in your area and probably most
0:33:02 > 0:33:06of you will be sent to Easterhouse, Mr Butterly did get up, didn't he?
0:33:06 > 0:33:10- He did.- And he said to the man, "You go and live in Easterhouse
0:33:10 > 0:33:12"if you like, but I certainly am not."
0:33:12 > 0:33:14- Excuse me... - He used profane language.
0:33:14 > 0:33:16I will f-ing not.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18I will not use the language John used, but...
0:33:18 > 0:33:22He had colourful language all the time, it didn't matter who he spoke to.
0:33:23 > 0:33:25I remember a lot of shouting and balling,
0:33:25 > 0:33:30and it was basically like it was no, that's not happening.
0:33:31 > 0:33:35Easterhouse lies five miles away from Duke Street.
0:33:35 > 0:33:38Back in the '70s there were no regular bus routes there.
0:33:39 > 0:33:43At that time in the '70s, Easterhouse was very much
0:33:43 > 0:33:47a distant land, it was miles away as far as we were concerned.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51The schemes got a bad name, especially Easterhouse,
0:33:51 > 0:33:53it was way back then.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59- This could have been us, because these houses are over 30 years old. - Are they really?
0:33:59 > 0:34:02- They must be.- What do you think of these wee verandas though, Irene,
0:34:02 > 0:34:04- they're so small.- There is not much you could get in them.
0:34:04 > 0:34:06Maybe one chair, and that would be it.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09Because they're family houses, you know?
0:34:09 > 0:34:11- The stuff they were offering us way back then...- Back then, yeah.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14- Look at it.- Well, they couldn't have been very well built
0:34:14 > 0:34:16if they're coming down already, I don't think.
0:34:19 > 0:34:21There was a lot of gangs in Easterhouse
0:34:21 > 0:34:24and it really did frighten people to come and live here.
0:34:24 > 0:34:27I certainly didn't want to come and live in Easterhouse,
0:34:27 > 0:34:29it was very scary stuff, you know?
0:34:31 > 0:34:34John Butterly's reluctance to be moved out to Easterhouse
0:34:34 > 0:34:36struck a chord with many at that meeting.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40They decided to take on the authorities.
0:34:41 > 0:34:44What motivated him was basically people were telling him what
0:34:44 > 0:34:47he was to do and when he was to do it, and you will just accept this.
0:34:47 > 0:34:49And he's like,
0:34:49 > 0:34:51"Well, no, you're wrong, because I'm not accepting it."
0:34:53 > 0:34:54They were mostly
0:34:54 > 0:34:57from Bathgate Street, John Butterly, Irene McInnes.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00I lived up in 64.
0:35:00 > 0:35:04We had John Butterly and Cathy McFarlane was in 59.
0:35:04 > 0:35:07We had Harriet in 47.
0:35:07 > 0:35:09Harriet the nuisance.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12We had Isobel Allen.
0:35:12 > 0:35:13Jimmy Donaldson.
0:35:13 > 0:35:16And when we all got together we made things happen.
0:35:16 > 0:35:18So people in the area thought well,
0:35:18 > 0:35:21that's the Bathgate Street Mafia, you know?
0:35:21 > 0:35:23And their boss was John Butterly.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27The idea was to create a resident-run organisation from
0:35:27 > 0:35:32scratch, which would purchase and then renovate their own properties.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35Yeah, it was unheard of. Nobody knew what it was.
0:35:35 > 0:35:39I mean, I don't know where the initial idea came from but no,
0:35:39 > 0:35:42it was very new, especially in Glasgow.
0:35:42 > 0:35:46The residents faced two big problems. First, to try and persuade
0:35:46 > 0:35:50a reluctant Glasgow Corporation that the residents knew better.
0:35:50 > 0:35:54Second, to persuade all their neighbours to join them.
0:35:55 > 0:35:57The houses were in disrepair,
0:35:57 > 0:35:59there's no doubt about that, the houses were in disrepair.
0:35:59 > 0:36:01People could not afford the upkeep of them,
0:36:01 > 0:36:03they couldn't afford the maintenance of them.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06We had landlords who were not interested in doing anything
0:36:06 > 0:36:08with them, just as long as they were getting their rent
0:36:08 > 0:36:10they were not interested.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14The Corporation thought they were unmaintainable.
0:36:14 > 0:36:16They thought that they were at the end of their life.
0:36:16 > 0:36:17He disagreed with that.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20He thought that they just needed a bit of TLC, they just needed
0:36:20 > 0:36:23a bit of love, they needed a bit of money spent on them, whereas they
0:36:23 > 0:36:26just thought the easiest solution was just to knock them down.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31For a year, the Bathgate Street Mafia kept pushing,
0:36:31 > 0:36:33petitioning and arguing.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38Finally, Glasgow Corporation recognised a group of enthusiastic
0:36:38 > 0:36:43amateurs with no previous experience as a legitimate housing association.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50I think he finally won by basically grinding them down and just
0:36:50 > 0:36:54by basically being persistent and saying, "no" every single time.
0:36:54 > 0:36:57"No, no, this is what we're doing, this is how we're doing it,"
0:36:57 > 0:37:00and not listening to what their proposals were.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03He had a community and he was determined 100% to save it.
0:37:05 > 0:37:09Reidvale became one of the very first community-based housing
0:37:09 > 0:37:14associations in Glasgow. And this immediately gave them
0:37:14 > 0:37:18access to central government grants of millions of pounds.
0:37:20 > 0:37:22They now needed to persuade all their neighbours to
0:37:22 > 0:37:26entrust them with their homes and see what they could achieve.
0:37:28 > 0:37:30How people trusted us I don't know.
0:37:30 > 0:37:32How we trusted ourselves at that time,
0:37:32 > 0:37:35because we didn't really know what we were doing.
0:37:35 > 0:37:39In spring 1976, local builders and contractors set to work.
0:37:39 > 0:37:40The community ran it.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43The community were the people who were in charge.
0:37:43 > 0:37:45They looked after it, they made the decisions.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47It wasn't the Glasgow City Council who sat in their ivory white
0:37:47 > 0:37:51towers, it was the people within the houses themselves who decided
0:37:51 > 0:37:53what was going to happen.
0:37:53 > 0:37:55They decided what colour the bathroom suites were going in,
0:37:55 > 0:37:58they decided what colour the closes were getting painted.
0:37:58 > 0:38:00It was always to do with the community,
0:38:00 > 0:38:01it was always to do with that.
0:38:03 > 0:38:05We did one flat up at 93 Reidvale Street there, showed them
0:38:05 > 0:38:07what it was like, and it was just a refurbishment.
0:38:07 > 0:38:09"Oh, this is beautiful". "This is great."
0:38:09 > 0:38:12- Aye. But it was great. - "Oh, I would not mind a house like this.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14"Oh, it's got an inside toilet."
0:38:14 > 0:38:17"Oh, look at that beautiful bathroom, oh, it's lovely."
0:38:17 > 0:38:19So that was the start. One flat was a start.
0:38:19 > 0:38:20Very exciting, yeah.
0:38:24 > 0:38:25Some did move away.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28Some did accept rehousing in the schemes,
0:38:28 > 0:38:31but those that stayed joined the Association
0:38:31 > 0:38:35and watched as their neighbourhood began its transformation.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40And a century of coal and grime was washed away.
0:38:43 > 0:38:45There was a lot of people getting involved within the committee,
0:38:45 > 0:38:48people wanting to help, people wanting to volunteer,
0:38:48 > 0:38:50people wanted to be a part of this, because I think after a
0:38:50 > 0:38:54while people realised this is starting to become something real.
0:38:54 > 0:38:58This isn't just some wee guy with a bonnet shouting his mouth off.
0:38:58 > 0:38:59This was becoming something real.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03This is Reidvale Housing Association.
0:39:04 > 0:39:06Glasgow Housing Association.
0:39:06 > 0:39:08What would you rather have?
0:39:08 > 0:39:10MUSIC: "The Passenger" - Iggy Pop
0:39:15 > 0:39:18John Mallon had no choice.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21His family needed more room, so the Corporation rehoused them
0:39:21 > 0:39:24in the new high rises that now over-shadowed Duke Street.
0:39:27 > 0:39:31They were built on the foundations of the tenements where John
0:39:31 > 0:39:32had lived as a boy.
0:39:34 > 0:39:38I stayed here for 14 year. It's still a dump.
0:39:38 > 0:39:40It was a dump when I stayed here.
0:39:42 > 0:39:46But a lot of good memories about here, a lot of good people,
0:39:46 > 0:39:49a lot of good neighbours who looked after us all.
0:39:49 > 0:39:53And we used to have fun meeting everybody in these lifts.
0:39:53 > 0:39:55But not today, they're broke again.
0:40:00 > 0:40:01This is the back stairs.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08When built back in 1968, the Whitevale
0:40:08 > 0:40:13and Bluevale Towers symbolised the pinnacle of Glasgow's bold vision.
0:40:13 > 0:40:19Soaring 30 storeys high and each containing 174 flats,
0:40:19 > 0:40:22they were the tallest occupied buildings in Scotland.
0:40:25 > 0:40:27We used to have to walk all the way up to the top, 26.
0:40:29 > 0:40:34These flats are quite notorious, but the biggest majority of people
0:40:34 > 0:40:37that stayed here were really good, honest citizens.
0:40:37 > 0:40:39What level are we at now?
0:40:40 > 0:40:44I've lost count. I've lost count.
0:40:44 > 0:40:46I think it's the next one.
0:40:47 > 0:40:50At one time you did not need to leave the flats.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53You could buy your drink here, you could buy cheap vodka here,
0:40:53 > 0:40:56you could buy cheap Champagne up these flats,
0:40:56 > 0:40:59buy drugs up the flats, buy tobacco up the flats.
0:41:00 > 0:41:04Buy butcher meat, there was a butcher, used to buy half a cow.
0:41:05 > 0:41:07Used to chop butcher meat up.
0:41:07 > 0:41:08You could buy a butcher parcel for a fiver.
0:41:08 > 0:41:10No, I mean, so...
0:41:10 > 0:41:12That community kind of was there.
0:41:12 > 0:41:14We were all, you know what I mean.
0:41:15 > 0:41:17And all the meters were rigged.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23But the heating, they could not run it, it was costing 20,
0:41:23 > 0:41:27£25 to heat a one-bedroom house.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30Nobody could... Nobody could heat their houses.
0:41:30 > 0:41:36So there were a spark staying up here and rigged all the meters,
0:41:36 > 0:41:39you know what I mean, and we were all toasting.
0:41:39 > 0:41:40HE LAUGHS
0:41:42 > 0:41:46Ah, this is my old bit here, this is my old landing.
0:41:46 > 0:41:48HE COUGHS
0:42:00 > 0:42:03This is my old house.
0:42:03 > 0:42:05I was living in here for over 20 year.
0:42:10 > 0:42:14These are the rooms. I didn't realise how small it was.
0:42:17 > 0:42:20This is the living room. This is where the parties we had.
0:42:21 > 0:42:24We used to sit here and get full of it, constant.
0:42:26 > 0:42:28Drink, drugs. Everything.
0:42:32 > 0:42:36And that's a kitchen that very rarely got made food in.
0:42:36 > 0:42:38Pot Noodles. We lived on Pot Noodles.
0:42:38 > 0:42:41They called us the Pot Noodle gang when I stayed here,
0:42:41 > 0:42:43because we lived on Pot Noodles.
0:42:44 > 0:42:46Drink, drugs and Pot Noodles.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49I don't know how I'm still alive to tell you the truth.
0:42:55 > 0:42:59I could walk out the door and get full of Valium, cannabis,
0:42:59 > 0:43:06acid, heroin, cocaine, Mogadon, Tramadol.
0:43:08 > 0:43:09We didn't know the risks.
0:43:09 > 0:43:13We'd seen it on the telly basically, watching 'Starsky and Hutch'.
0:43:19 > 0:43:21But no, there were drugs everywhere, you know what I mean?
0:43:21 > 0:43:24It was easier to buy a bag of smack than it was a bag of toys.
0:43:24 > 0:43:28And it was quicker to buy a bag of smack than a bag of toys, you know what I mean?
0:43:29 > 0:43:34Miners were on strike, Thatcher was shutting everything down.
0:43:34 > 0:43:39The... anarchy, everybody was running riot, there was no jobs.
0:43:39 > 0:43:41We just wanted to smash the government up.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46And then all of a sudden heroin appeared
0:43:46 > 0:43:49and everybody started taking it,
0:43:49 > 0:43:52and it quelled... You know what I mean, it quelled the uprising.
0:43:52 > 0:43:54I feel it was a government, the government.
0:43:54 > 0:43:56Well, put it this way, the Tories are back again,
0:43:56 > 0:43:59and this place is full again of heroin.
0:43:59 > 0:44:01MUSIC: "Breadline Britain" - The Communards.
0:44:01 > 0:44:05# This is Breadline Britain
0:44:05 > 0:44:09# This free and promised land... #
0:44:09 > 0:44:13In the 1980s, Duke Street, like the rest of Glasgow was hit
0:44:13 > 0:44:17by the economic downturn that was to engulf Scotland and the North.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22With mass unemployment came social deprivation in the form
0:44:22 > 0:44:24of alcohol and drug addiction.
0:44:26 > 0:44:30Duke Street was in the thick of it as Glasgow's reputation blackened.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36The life expectancy of a man living in the most deprived
0:44:36 > 0:44:40areas of Glasgow was a full 15 years less than one
0:44:40 > 0:44:43living in the city's more affluent district.
0:44:45 > 0:44:47What was left of Dennistoun's middle classes on the north
0:44:47 > 0:44:50side of Duke Street now fled the East End.
0:44:54 > 0:44:59As families moved away, so the grand houses became bedsits,
0:44:59 > 0:45:01halfway houses and hostels.
0:45:06 > 0:45:10During this period, Reidvale was also under-going a period of change.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13Families were still leaving the area.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16They had also been forced to demolish some buildings
0:45:16 > 0:45:18deemed to be unsafe.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21The remaining tenements were all covered in scaffolding.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26But then the scaffolding began to come off as the first flats
0:45:26 > 0:45:27were completed.
0:45:28 > 0:45:31This is my mum's house, this is where I was brought up
0:45:31 > 0:45:32when I was a kid.
0:45:32 > 0:45:34DOORBELL RINGS
0:45:34 > 0:45:36Hopefully she hears me.
0:45:38 > 0:45:42John Stewart moved in to a newly renovated Reidvale flat when he was 10.
0:45:43 > 0:45:45And they were all new inside, new doors, new toilets,
0:45:45 > 0:45:49new kitchens, just everything was new inside.
0:45:49 > 0:45:54And it smelt brilliant, it smelled like a really new house, you know?
0:45:54 > 0:45:55Yeah, my old room there.
0:45:57 > 0:45:58This was my old room.
0:45:58 > 0:46:01This is where I slept. It's now used as a store-room.
0:46:02 > 0:46:04This is our kitchen.
0:46:04 > 0:46:08It's never really changed except for the new cupboards.
0:46:08 > 0:46:10I remember when I was younger, me
0:46:10 > 0:46:14and my brother were standing here and we were fighting, he pushed me,
0:46:14 > 0:46:17and I actually went right through the window and landed out the back.
0:46:17 > 0:46:21You can just imagine falling from there as a kid.
0:46:21 > 0:46:23Luckily, hitting the grass.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26If I had hit the brick I would have been in hospital.
0:46:26 > 0:46:28John Stewart attended the local
0:46:28 > 0:46:30primary school at the end of his street.
0:46:30 > 0:46:32It served those living on the South of Duke Street.
0:46:34 > 0:46:37This here is Thomson Street Primary School where I went in primary.
0:46:37 > 0:46:40I was in here for Primary 6, Primary 7 and stuff.
0:46:42 > 0:46:44And this here is the playground,
0:46:44 > 0:46:47the area where you can see the clothes line.
0:46:47 > 0:46:49This is where the playground area was.
0:46:50 > 0:46:54A lot of people knew this as the bike shed area.
0:46:54 > 0:46:58That wall it's never ever changed, but it was a great school,
0:46:58 > 0:47:00it was absolutely brilliant.
0:47:00 > 0:47:04And I know and I always remember the headmistress, her office was
0:47:04 > 0:47:08in there, because I was never out of it, it was just one of those things.
0:47:08 > 0:47:10But it's a great old building.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15Thomson Street School was built in 1875.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18Its fees were four times higher than other local schools,
0:47:18 > 0:47:20such was its reputation.
0:47:21 > 0:47:24It initially appealed to the elite of Dennistoun on the other
0:47:24 > 0:47:28side of the street before becoming a free school in 1890.
0:47:29 > 0:47:34By 1984 it was educating Duke Street's south side.
0:47:34 > 0:47:35It's got a lot of memories.
0:47:35 > 0:47:37I think the memories were the thing for me.
0:47:38 > 0:47:40My life started when I moved in to that school.
0:47:43 > 0:47:46The first couple of days I came to the school I saw this boy,
0:47:46 > 0:47:50shocking blond hair and thought, "Ooh, he's nice,"
0:47:50 > 0:47:53and I went home and says to my mum I've met the boy I'm going to marry.
0:47:53 > 0:47:55And she just looked at me and went, "So you have, dear,"
0:47:55 > 0:47:57and just left it.
0:47:57 > 0:47:59But ten years later I married that man.
0:48:01 > 0:48:05But the number of families in Duke Street was in sharp decline.
0:48:05 > 0:48:09In 1983 the council decided to close half of the schools in the area.
0:48:11 > 0:48:15Duke Street's parents and children campaigned to save their school.
0:48:17 > 0:48:19Irene led the protest.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22As a parent our first responsibility is to the safety of our children
0:48:22 > 0:48:26and under no circumstances are we going to allow the council to put
0:48:26 > 0:48:29us in a position and our children in a very dangerous position.
0:48:29 > 0:48:32We're sitting in the middle of a community, we're surrounded
0:48:32 > 0:48:36by four main roads, and no matter what school they propose to send
0:48:36 > 0:48:40us to, our children are very going to face very dangerous hazards.
0:48:40 > 0:48:42Yet again, the council was coming in,
0:48:42 > 0:48:44other people were making decisions for us.
0:48:44 > 0:48:46It's about time they sat up and listened to the
0:48:46 > 0:48:49people from the area and realise our children come first.
0:48:52 > 0:48:53There was a big march.
0:48:53 > 0:48:57We left from here and we done a march right all the way round, past
0:48:57 > 0:49:01Glasgow Cathedral and came back down High Street and John Knox Street
0:49:01 > 0:49:05all in protest at the fact that they're closing this school down.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08Hundreds of parents and children gathered outside Strathclyde
0:49:08 > 0:49:10region's headquarters before the meeting.
0:49:11 > 0:49:14The children wore plain white masks because, say their parents,
0:49:14 > 0:49:18they're being treated as faceless people.
0:49:18 > 0:49:20I remember it very well, because it was filmed with the TV
0:49:20 > 0:49:24and it was the first time I was ever on TV, so I'll never ever forget
0:49:24 > 0:49:27that, and my face was in the picture in the paper as well, you know?
0:49:28 > 0:49:31Despite winning a temporary stay of execution,
0:49:31 > 0:49:35the school finally closed its doors in June 1984.
0:49:35 > 0:49:40I was one of the last Primary 7 pupils at Thomson Street Primary.
0:49:40 > 0:49:43It seemed it was another building that would chart Duke Street's
0:49:43 > 0:49:44sad decline.
0:49:46 > 0:49:49But John Butterly and the rest of the Bathgate Street Mafia had
0:49:49 > 0:49:50other plans.
0:49:52 > 0:49:56After a century of grime and filth, stone cleaning revealed row
0:49:56 > 0:49:59upon row of glistening honey coloured tenements.
0:50:00 > 0:50:03Reidvale Housing Association was transforming the area.
0:50:04 > 0:50:08Then you get impatient waiting on yours to get done then.
0:50:08 > 0:50:10- I think Bathgate Street was one of the last.- Uh-huh.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13We were the Bathgate Street Mafia, we were last to get renovated.
0:50:13 > 0:50:16We did all the work, but we were last to get renovated.
0:50:18 > 0:50:22Harriet moved back in to what had been her one room and kitchen flat.
0:50:24 > 0:50:27Here we are, after this being the small flat, Reidvale came
0:50:27 > 0:50:31and knocked two flats into one, so now we've got this nice big flat.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34If you'd like to come along and see it.
0:50:34 > 0:50:38And this was the flat next door, and this used to be
0:50:38 > 0:50:43the kitchen in the flat next door, which is now a lovely bedroom.
0:50:43 > 0:50:46So that was two-bedrooms now we've got in the flat.
0:50:48 > 0:50:52This used to be a cupboard and now we have a bathroom,
0:50:52 > 0:50:55which was a nice luxury when we moved in to this flat.
0:50:56 > 0:50:59This was a sitting room.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02This whole part here was a sitting room that they divided
0:51:02 > 0:51:07it in to two, and now we have a small single bedroom in here...
0:51:08 > 0:51:10..which gives you three bedrooms.
0:51:12 > 0:51:17And next door we've got a nice kitchen, which even takes
0:51:17 > 0:51:20a table and chairs, so it's a big enough kitchen for a family.
0:51:22 > 0:51:25So this was the sitting room of the house next door
0:51:25 > 0:51:27and now it's a nice kitchen.
0:51:27 > 0:51:31Personally, I felt moving from a small room, the kitchen,
0:51:31 > 0:51:34toilet, in to a three bedroom, bathroom,
0:51:34 > 0:51:38kitchen house was to me absolutely brilliant.
0:51:38 > 0:51:40It was like moving in to a mansion.
0:51:40 > 0:51:44This three-bedroomed flat is now rented from Reidvale by her
0:51:44 > 0:51:45daughter, Vicky.
0:51:45 > 0:51:48Vicky's twin brother lives just straight across the road.
0:51:48 > 0:51:50You could see his window from here,
0:51:50 > 0:51:52so they could actually almost talk to each other.
0:51:52 > 0:51:54My other daughter lives in Thomson Street,
0:51:54 > 0:51:56so she's not far away either, so...
0:51:57 > 0:52:00As the residents of the south side moved back in to
0:52:00 > 0:52:05their refurbished and now desirable homes, so this was influencing
0:52:05 > 0:52:09the whole of Duke Street, and the north side was changing too.
0:52:11 > 0:52:13OK, everyone. Thanks for coming along today.
0:52:13 > 0:52:15I know it's a holiday weekend,
0:52:15 > 0:52:17so that's even better that people have turned up.
0:52:17 > 0:52:21Jerry, you'll be doing Craigpark, we'll do Westercraigs
0:52:21 > 0:52:25and then we'll kind of congregate down and you're doing the Square.
0:52:25 > 0:52:27OK. Cheers. Have a good day.
0:52:32 > 0:52:37So I've been here since 2005 in this street,
0:52:37 > 0:52:42having lived in the West End of Glasgow for 18 years before that.
0:52:46 > 0:52:50And by selling an apartment in the West End of Glasgow one can
0:52:50 > 0:52:53afford, or one could afford to buy a house in this street
0:52:53 > 0:52:57with as much space, if not more, and gardens front and back.
0:52:57 > 0:52:59That's the rubbish from the gloves.
0:53:03 > 0:53:07The whole of the East End is now becoming a far better place to be.
0:53:09 > 0:53:11When they asked you what you did and, you know,
0:53:11 > 0:53:13I said I was an architect and we stayed in Dennistoun
0:53:13 > 0:53:16and they were puzzled by this, because they had never heard
0:53:16 > 0:53:19of Dennistoun, they thought all architects stayed in the West End.
0:53:19 > 0:53:21Now everyone's heard of Dennistoun.
0:53:21 > 0:53:25We're very pleased with the way that this area exists,
0:53:25 > 0:53:27and there is a certain kind of community.
0:53:28 > 0:53:33You know, if you can at least spend a little bit of time, once a
0:53:33 > 0:53:40month, picking up a sweet wrapper or two then, you know, you do your bit.
0:53:41 > 0:53:43It's just really a community feel now.
0:53:43 > 0:53:44People feel that they're supported
0:53:44 > 0:53:47and that there's a sense of place where they are.
0:53:47 > 0:53:48Morning.
0:53:50 > 0:53:53So it's that kind of thing that you continue to talk about it,
0:53:53 > 0:53:55people begin to learn about it.
0:53:55 > 0:53:58We were just lucky we got in early doors and we love it to bits.
0:53:58 > 0:53:59And that's it, isn't it, yeah?
0:54:03 > 0:54:07Slowly, the middle classes are making their way back to Duke Street.
0:54:09 > 0:54:11A sense of community is returning to this street.
0:54:15 > 0:54:17But no-one wants to live in these flats any more.
0:54:18 > 0:54:24The last tenants moved out over a year ago and 378 homes lie empty.
0:54:27 > 0:54:29Built too close to the railway line
0:54:29 > 0:54:33and the homes that sit underneath, they can't be blown up.
0:54:33 > 0:54:38Instead, they still await demolition, one floor at a time.
0:54:40 > 0:54:44The school lay for a while with nothing happening to it.
0:54:44 > 0:54:46And it was angering us all.
0:54:46 > 0:54:50They were saying it was going to cost £50,000 to demolish it,
0:54:50 > 0:54:54so we says to them we'll take it off your hands, what do you want for it?
0:54:55 > 0:54:58And they went, well, we can give you it for a £1.
0:55:00 > 0:55:02Irene couldn't save the school,
0:55:02 > 0:55:05but Reidvale Housing Association did save the building.
0:55:05 > 0:55:07It became 19 flats.
0:55:10 > 0:55:12Irene moved here in 1987.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15This is the main entrance of the old school,
0:55:15 > 0:55:18and if you just come through it I'll show you the living area.
0:55:20 > 0:55:24This is the living room and the kitchen area.
0:55:24 > 0:55:26This used to be the headmaster's room,
0:55:26 > 0:55:30and my husband, Tommy, visited it more often than I did for the belt.
0:55:32 > 0:55:34This is the bedroom.
0:55:34 > 0:55:39This was a classroom, or a staff room for the teachers.
0:55:39 > 0:55:41When we moved in here this was...
0:55:41 > 0:55:45John Butterly wanted a Jacuzzi. I got a Jacuzzi.
0:55:45 > 0:55:47See John, he'll be looking down for me from above.
0:55:47 > 0:55:49I've got a Jacuzzi at last.
0:55:51 > 0:55:54We are independent and we make the decisions, the people of the area.
0:55:54 > 0:55:55It's people power.
0:55:57 > 0:56:00The City Council known as Glasgow Housing Association now,
0:56:00 > 0:56:03are following in our footsteps.
0:56:03 > 0:56:05Why? Because we were successful.
0:56:06 > 0:56:12Not so long ago, Harriet moved in to Reidvale's very last project
0:56:12 > 0:56:15sheltered housing for Duke Street's elderly.
0:56:17 > 0:56:20That was seven years ago, and then I felt quite young,
0:56:20 > 0:56:23and I thought I'm not going in to one with the old folk.
0:56:25 > 0:56:27This is where we sit in the summer.
0:56:27 > 0:56:29We bring the chairs over and we sit.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32We're waiting on a new umbrella coming for the table.
0:56:32 > 0:56:35And that's our love seat, but nobody's in love in here,
0:56:35 > 0:56:36so it does not get used.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41There was one man stood up and when he's seen me and he went,
0:56:41 > 0:56:45"Oh, fresh meat," and he rubbed his hands, and I thought, "Oh, my God."
0:56:47 > 0:56:51John Butterly was awarded an MBE in 1987 for his services to the
0:56:51 > 0:56:53community.
0:56:54 > 0:56:56I remember going to a Celtic match with him that day,
0:56:56 > 0:56:59and it must have been the Rangers/Celtic game,
0:56:59 > 0:57:02because it was a New Year's Day game and there was a guy
0:57:02 > 0:57:05in front of us with his paper rolled up in his back pocket
0:57:05 > 0:57:09and I could see his son with him kind of looking at his back pocket
0:57:09 > 0:57:12and then looking at my grandpa, and then looking at the back pocket
0:57:12 > 0:57:15and I kinda felt my grandpa's famous, you know, it was brilliant.
0:57:15 > 0:57:16And I know he loved it,
0:57:16 > 0:57:20he absolutely loved being on the front page of the Daily Record.
0:57:26 > 0:57:30The residents of Duke Street were able to save a 1,000 homes,
0:57:30 > 0:57:34and no-one was moved more than a few hundred metres from where
0:57:34 > 0:57:35they'd previously lived.
0:57:37 > 0:57:41It was the Reidvale tenants of Glasgow's Duke Street who
0:57:41 > 0:57:44pioneered the creation of community controlled housing
0:57:44 > 0:57:47associations throughout the United Kingdom.
0:57:53 > 0:57:57In next week's episode, Aberdeen's Fittie Squares
0:57:57 > 0:57:59were an enclave for fisher folk.
0:57:59 > 0:58:02You were being taught from an early age that the demon drink was
0:58:02 > 0:58:03bad for you.
0:58:03 > 0:58:05Unchanged for generations.
0:58:05 > 0:58:09Fittie was regarded as a kind of a strange place.
0:58:09 > 0:58:11When a new industry arrived,
0:58:11 > 0:58:15its people were thrown headlong in to the modern world.
0:58:15 > 0:58:18These people have been sacrificed to oil interests.
0:58:21 > 0:58:23If you want to learn more about social change
0:58:23 > 0:58:25and issues such as poverty, class and housing,
0:58:25 > 0:58:28the Open University has produced a free publication.
0:58:28 > 0:58:31Go to bbc.co.uk/ourstreets
0:58:31 > 0:58:36and follow the links to the Open University, or call 0845 271 0018.