Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Paisley

  • Paisley – Causeyside Street Pavement

    Paisley – Causeyside Street Pavement

    I was intrigued by these inscriptions along the pavement on Causeyside Street in Paisley and I thought at the time that they indicated the jobs that residents living in the properties had. However, it seems that they’re simply random, giving a list of some of the jobs that existed in Paisley in the past.

    I’m not very knowledgeable about textiles, weaving and clothing manufacturing, but it seems that a pirn winder was a job that a child could do (and frequently did) as it was winds the yarn onto pirns (a pirn is a rod onto which weft thread is wound). There are still advertisements in the UK for loom tuners, so that role has persisted (although I don’t understand it). As for hank winders, there’s a chat at https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=487070.0 about that….

    It’s all a bit beyond me, but it does make me think about what sort of job these workers would have had today in the current labour market. Many of these jobs were routine and very dull roles, but a necessary part of the weaving process and some of the few forms of employment that might have been open to many women and children (there don’t seem to be many men doing these roles) at the time.

  • Paisley – The Last Post

    Paisley – The Last Post

    As I was walking through Paisley yesterday, I thought I’d visit one last Good Beer Guide pub before my flight back to London. This is the JD Wetherspoon operated Last Post, which I chose as the other pubs listed appeared to be primarily sports led and I wasn’t going to risk that.

    It’s a grand building that JD Wetherspoon have converted, what was formerly the main Post Office in Paisley, hence the pub name.

    The upstairs in the pub, which wasn’t overly busy, just as I like it, nice and peaceful.

    And the downstairs area, which was a little busier.

    A half pint of Buffalo from Fire Island organic craft beer.

    And the large bottle of Elvis Juice, which came with the meal.

    With the meal being the chicken jalfrezi curry, which was very reasonably priced and towards the lower end of the price bands that the chain has. The food was all fine and cooked well, with everything at the appropriate temperature, so the usual value for money. Service was excellent, with a friendly team member bringing the drink and food, they offered a check back and also checked if I had enjoyed the meal. The environment was clean and comfortable, with team members visible cleaning tables down on a regular basis.

    I’ve noticed that the average Wetherspoon pub seems to score around 4.1 on Google reviews (I accept that I really need to get out more….), so this one is a little more negatively reviewed than the usual. Many of the reviews are the general complaints about slow service or tables not being clean, although I didn’t experience that. The complaint:

    “Went for breakfast, sold out of poached eggs but could still get eggs on a fried breakfast, so basically who ever is in the kitchen can’t poach an egg!”

    I’ve seen a few times from customers who don’t realise that JD Wetherspoon just reheat pre-cooked poached eggs that are shipped straight in. Another angry customer left them 1/5 noting:

    “They have my favourite poached eggs Benedict on the menu but they don’t serve it, something to do with the poached eggs being cooked off site!!??”

    For a busy kitchen, I like this approach, there’s a consistency to the process and it should be impossible to get a hard poached egg, although Richard has managed a couple of times. Anyway, I’ve digressed into writing about poached eggs in Wetherspoons, which is a bit pointless as I didn’t even order that. Back to the reviews, one customer commented “I got two camping chairs stolen in the pub” which sounds an exciting story as the criminal “grabbed them and ran straight past me”.

    There was a choice of five different real ales, so I can see why the pub has been listed in the Good Beer Guide, and since the interior also has some historic interest, I’m pleased that it has been listed. All rather lovely.

  • Paisley – Travelodge Glasgow Airport Hotel

    Paisley – Travelodge Glasgow Airport Hotel

    Having stayed at the Premier Inn hotel at Glasgow airport last week, I thought I’d try the Travelodge this week. As an aside, it seemed an odd way to build a hotel on prime real estate, with such a large footprint but only having two floors, but everything seemed modern and functional. There isn’t much to do in the immediate area, but it’s possible to walk to the airport in about ten minutes (although the options there are more expensive) or walk into Paisley in about twenty minutes for all the action that anyone could possibly want. What was useful was the clear walking instructions that the airport has installed so that it was easy to get from the hotel to the terminal.

    One day after my muttering about the potential problem (which fortunately didn’t become a problem) of connecting doors between rooms, this hotel had them as well, the first time that I’ve seen them in a Travelodge. They were firmly constructed and so noise intrusion wasn’t a huge problem, but I do hate the things and I notice that they’ve had a number of negative reviews about them.

    I slept well and didn’t encounter any noise internally or externally, with the hotel being clean and comfortable. The staff member at reception was helpful and friendly, so I felt welcome, with the check-in process being efficient. There were plenty of plug sockets in the room, although none near the bed, although I’m sure that this will be fixed at a future refurbishment. However, given how much I dislike connecting doors, I wouldn’t stay here again and would instead book the Premier Inn or IHG options.

  • Abellio ScotRail – Glasgow Central to Paisley Canal (Paisley Canal Line)

    Abellio ScotRail – Glasgow Central to Paisley Canal (Paisley Canal Line)

    The Paisley Canal railway line is a little bit odd, as services were reduced in the 1960s and 1970s, before it was finally closed down in 1983. Soon after closure and the demolition of key structures along the route, there was a new plan to re-open it again, with the line coming back into service in July 1990, even though there’s another line which goes from Glasgow to Paisley. Although I think it’s marvellous for a rail line to be brought back into usage, I’m surprised that this one was saved.

    This map from the 1890s shows how strange this rail line is (clicking on the map makes it a little larger). The rail line at the top is beautifully straight (well, other than the curve, but my point is hopefully clear) whereas this canal line to the south of it is all over the show with its little curves and bends. That’s because they built the line on top of the former canal (hence the name), so it wasn’t really ideal in very many ways.

    This is the departure boards at Glasgow Central railway station and this is where one of the first differences with the new Paisley Canal line becomes evident.

    The railway line used to start at St. Enoch station, but that was knocked down in 1975. As can be seen above, they’ve now built a shopping on that site, so services have been to Glasgow Central railway station.

    The train was departing from platform 12, as observant readers might notice.

    I had to look this up (I’m not that much of a train geek), but this is a Class 380 train, built in Germany around ten years ago, operated by Abellio ScotRail.

    The train wasn’t overly busy and was suitably clean throughout.

    I was slightly surprised to see power points.

    Some of the stations had to be reconstructed, but in many places only one platform was put back.

    Previously operated by diesel locomotives, the line has now also been electrified, with the work being completed in 2012.

    There was a platform there once….

    And here’s the end of the line, Paisley Canal railway station. It didn’t always end here, it used to carry on to Kilmacolm and there are apparently vague plans put forwards to restoring it all the way.

    This plaque was unveiled by the local MP, who at the time was Douglas Alexander who was also the Secretary of State for International Development. To be precise, he had been given that Cabinet the day before he unveiled this plaque, which likely wasn’t ideal timing. It notes that the work on the Ardrossan Canal was completed in 1811, being converted into a rail line in 1883.

    A plaque noting the reopening of the line, although I’d like to see one next to it showing the politicians who had decided to close it just a few years before.

    This is where the line used to continue, they’ve plonked some steps up to the bridge and made a big hole in that to give access to the road.

    Looking back to the end of the line.

  • Paisley – Premier Inn Glasgow Airport Hotel

    Paisley – Premier Inn Glasgow Airport Hotel

    As I had landed at Glasgow Airport at after 21:00 and I’ve never been to the city before, I thought that it’d be easier to just stay near to the airport for the evening. It was also cheaper to stay at the airport than in the city centre, so this was also a cost efficient option. I was pleased to discover just how easy it was to walk to the hotel, as I wouldn’t have been thrilled to traipse around some industrial estates in the dark trying to find how to get there. I’ve had that before, as airports aren’t often designed to encourage pedestrians to walk out of them (London Heathrow T5 and London Gatwick are examples of that….). Anyway, I was at the hotel about five minutes after leaving the airport.

    There was a friendly staff member at reception who said that he had given me a quiet room on the ground floor. I never discovered what relevance the quiet room bit had, as they’re not normally located on the ground floor next to the car park. But, to be fair, I didn’t have any noise problems and so had nothing to complain about. The room was clean, although they need to replace their sheets as they had black stains on them, the origins of which I didn’t dwell on. The bathroom was clean as well, with a bath rather than a shower cubicle.

    The spectacular view I had from my room.

    And the hotel exterior. I didn’t have any problems at the hotel, with everything working as it should. There’s no air conditioning in the room, although there’s a heater which is connected into the temperature controls to make things warmer. That wasn’t relevant for me as I rarely need to make rooms cooler, I spend more time trying to turn them into fridges.

    I didn’t bother with the breakfast as it was £9.90 and I think that it’s too rich a price for the quality offered. The menus in the room mention that there’s a meal deal with evening meal and breakfast included, but the price of that seems a secret. I’m guessing that this probably offers reasonable value for money, but it’d perhaps be clearer if they gave the price.

    The reviews are fairly favourable, with the negative ones being the usual mix of justified and, well, not really justified. I liked the complaint that one person made that they booked their breakfast for 10am but turned up early and couldn’t get their breakfast until 10am. The build quality of the hotel seemingly isn’t great (Premier Inn seem to have a common problem with this) and there seems to be problems with sound leakage from the floor above, but perhaps I was fortunate not to have anyone stomping above my room.

    The room was around £40, which was a little higher than ideal, but still cheaper than the alternative of heading into the centre of the city. I didn’t see anyone at checkout, but I’m fairly sure it wouldn’t have been difficult to find someone to talk to if I had needed to. All told, a perfectly acceptable hotel and I’d say that this is a reliable place to visit for anyone wanting to stay somewhere a short walk to the airport before or after a flight.