People take names very seriously, and so they should. When something urgent happens, it’s useful to have names to refer to so information can be quickly conveyed. Perhaps, on 8 March, we should have written that the “Irn Bru sign building has burned down”, as that, or a variation thereof, is how many knew it. But not everyone. So, on the night, we went with Union Corner, as did most other big hitters in the press. But, this created quite an online stir, so Robbie set about finding out what that-building-what-burned-down was really called so we could put the matter to rest.
But first, your briefing
Glasgow in Brief
🇮🇳 The UN has intervened in the case of a Dumbarton man who has been held for eight years in prison in India. Jagtar Singh Johal was arrested in the state of Punjab in 2017 over allegations he was involved in assassinations by the Khalistan Liberation Force, a banned group described as terrorists by India. He was also accused of funding the group, and his arrest was partially the result of a tip-off by British intelligence authorities, according to The Times. Last year Johal was acquitted of the charges brought against him by the Indian government. Despite a plan for his repatriation to the UK, he is yet to be released and faces an indefinite wait to return home. Now, United Nations experts have described the “arbitrary detention” and “unlawful suffering” Johal has been subjected to as a form of “psychological torture”.
The Khalistan independence movement — a Sikh separatist campaign calling for the independence of the part of the Punjab referred to by supporters as Khalistan — has long been in conflict with authorities in India. And Johal’s is not the first case to involve the west of Scotland. In 2023, Khalistan activists protested and prevented the High Commissioner of India from entering the Guru Granth Sahib Sikh Sabha Gurdwara in Glasgow, causing a diplomatic row. The gurdwara said the incident was carried out by “unknown” people outwith its community.
🎵 On Monday, we wrote about how independent music festivals have struggled to get off the ground, with the news that the fitness/music fest Paisley Alive had been cancelled with 10-weeks’ notice. Now, another one has gone belly up with even less time to spare. GlasGael promised to be Scotland’s “largest Irish music festival” when it was first announced back in February by online video creator Paddy Gunning. Back then, a debate took place in Bell HQ. The motion, put forward by Calum, was that the festival would never go ahead. To him, the marketing looked low-effort. Robbie, ever the optimist, was less worried and looked forward to dancing jigs and brushing up on his Gaelic. Sadly for Robbie, and all Glaswegian Irish music lovers, GlasGael was postponed until 2027 on Tuesday, with organisers Festival HQ Limited citing the “global landscape” changing and impacting its “business model”. This news came just under a fortnight before the festival was due to take place on Glasgow Green on 2 and 3 May. Festival HQ Limited has reassured ticket buyers that they’ll be refunded. Strangely, though, GlasGael’s Instagram page has since been taken down.
If you bought a ticket to GlasGael, or know anything about it, and would like to talk to us, get in touch on 07787 718079 or email editor@glasgowbell.co.uk.
⚰️ A coffin factory in Shieldhall is set to close, putting the jobs of all 74 staff members at risk. Co-op Funeralcare, which runs the Bogmoor Place site, says it is moving operations to its Merseyside facility to “operate more effectively as a business”. Sharon Graham, general secretary of labour union Unite, described the Co-op’s decision as “disgraceful”, and said options to save jobs remain on the table, such as “a new built factory in Glasgow”. Unite’s regional coordinating officer, Alison MacLean, said: “This is a significant employer in an area with high levels of social deprivation. The Co-op can’t dodge its responsibility to these workers. Unite will leave no stone unturned in order to get the Co-op to reconsider this needless decision.” If the plans go ahead, the site will be closed by November.
Stories you might have missed:
👝 £11 million of fake designer goods seized in largest ever Scottish haul | STV
🪧 STV staff to strike amid ongoing pay dispute | Scottish Sun
🦶 City Centre footfall up | Glasgow Live
In the aftermath of the fire that destroyed a key part of Union Street, one question prevailed. Perhaps it was best summed up by Scott McGready, posting on X.
“Right,” McGready wrote. “Who the fuck has ever called it ‘the union corner?”
He wasn’t alone.
“I’ve lived in Glasgow almost 60 year and have never once heard it called Union Corner,” someone else wrote. “Nobody. Ever. [called it Union Corner]. Until now. Woke fucks,” proclaimed another. One user shared a Bell article saying, “Wtf is ‘Union Corner’? Honestly man, these people aren’t Glaswegian.” Others labelled it a “mainstream media confection of dubious purpose”.
Publicly, the jury’s still out. The media still alternates between ‘Forsyth House’ and ‘Union Corner’. Politicians like Glasgow’s built heritage guru, Paul Sweeney and the secretary of state for Scotland initially went for the ‘Forsyth Building’ — but were promptly corrected on social media.
So who’s right? Or, are they all wrong?
Was it ever called anything?
Milling about Gordon Street on a Wednesday afternoon, five weeks after the blaze, unwitting tourists lug suitcases towards the cordon that still blocks off the demolition zone at Union and Gordon Street, where cranes pick away at charred brick. Many others wander down the street to gawp at the gapsite, a new melancholic tourist destination for the city centre.
A serious looking man in a shirt and gilet reluctantly stops to chat on his way back to the office. He’s been working in the Ca’ d’Oro — famously rebuilt after a devastating 1987 fire — for 12 years. In that time, he’s never heard the building referred to as anything specifically, other than perhaps Union Corner, although even then he sounds uncertain. Has recent coverage invented a retrospective memory in the minds of Glaswegians?
Although the former department store — rather demure in its neo-claccisist edifice and minimal ornamentation — occupied a central place in the city’s built fabric, streetscape and history, its name eludes even its most elderly residents. Mary Sutherland, an 89-year old retired bus conductor with bright eyes and a big smile, is being pushed through town in a wheelchair by her daughter. She “watched with horror” as the building burned down. As far as a name goes, she’s far more interested in bemoaning the demise of the city centre, and besides, she has no memory of ever calling it anything.
Three sisters, Belle, Trish and Betty Glen, have come to look at the remains after a birthday afternoon tea at the Mackintosh Tearooms. Betty, the middle sister, has just turned 73. The trio are three of 15 sisters. “The Irn Bru building,” Betty and Belle shout when asked what they called it, referring to the old Barr’s Irn Bru sign that used to stare out up Renfield Street, later replaced by a clock, then an illuminated advertising board.
“Ba Bru, the wee black boy,” Belle whispers. “He was wearing a turban and drinking Irn Bru.” She’s referring to the neon advertisement, which would now comfortably be described as a racist Indian caricature, that loomed above the building until it was replaced in 1983.
“It never had a name,” says a man in his mid-60s standing behind the cordon, staring morosely at the remains. “It was just ‘Union corner’,” he says with a sigh.
What's in a map?
Some of the confusion stems from publicly available maps. As flames consumed the Victorian B-listed building at 101–115 Union Street, journalists and politicians turned to official records to try and find a name for it. Historic Environment Scotland had one, attributed to an Ordnance Survey map: ‘Forsyth House’, a name also used by a number of businesses registered at the address. Yet combing through old maps, online records and archives, one finds no mention of Forsyth House.
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