The West City Way (WCW) is one of 4 largely segregated arterial cycle routes running out from Glasgow City Centre. It was completed in July 2023 and takes you from Central Station over the M8 motorway and through Anderston to Kelvingrove Park in just 11-12 minutes.
Recorded on Thursday 31st July 2025 between 1811-1949 hours
Length: 2,086 metres (2.1 km / 1.3 miles)
Route: Central Station, Gordon Street – Hope Street – Waterloo Street – M8 Bridge to Nowhere – Argyle Street – Elderslie Street – Berkeley Street – Claremont Street – North Claremont Street – Kelvingrove Park
This is the second of four videos in which I intend to chronicle the City Ways as they are now, in Summer 2025. They show how quick and easy it is to get around by bike in the city environment, as well as reaching the major city parks for fresh air and a splash of green.
Thank you for watching.
“Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?”
1 Corinthians 15:12
(the verse preached on by Reverend William Pulsford on the opening of Trinity Congregational Church on Sunday 30th April 1865)
Chapters:
00:00 West City Way Westbound
12:00 Kelvingrove Park
24:00 West City Way Eastbound
Good evening, folks. Today I’m going to cycle along the West City Way, which is one of four main cycle routes that radiate out from Glasgow City Center. The West City Way begins here outside Central Station on Gordon Street and heads west all the way to Kelvin Grove Park over the M8 motorway and through the area of Anderson. So, if you’ll join me, let’s go. Um, just a short section of Hope Street here. I’ve started my watch to time. It should take us roughly 12 minutes. and right onto Waterlue Street, which will take us [Music] all the way to the edge of the city center where we cross Emily by foot bridge. It is Thursday evening about 6:00 p.m. 31st of July 2025 and the temperature is about 19° Celsius. Here we go. I’m never going to watch that. This is by far the shortest of the four city ways. It is 2.4 kilometers in length. That’s 1.3 miles. It was built in sections. This bit here outside Morgan Stanley was with the tiled surface was opened in 2018 and it was part of the planning requirements that they included that. Hence why it’s different. This is also the oldest of the four citys. It was completed in July 2013, so 12 years ago. both this section and the bridge that we’re about to cross with the Anderson Kelvin Grove section couple of years earlier 2011 roundabout There we go. Does take a wee to cross this junction now. It’s just been redeveloped. This is us just on the foot/cycle bridge. Now, I think it does have an official name, but it’s widely known as the bridge to nowhere. When this section of the M8 motorway was opened in 1970, [Applause] there were a couple of sections that were left unfinished. This being one of them. And it wasn’t until 50 years later that this one was completed for the cycle route. 82 cyclists westbound today. as we join Arel Street in Anderson. No segregation here. It’s effectively a dead end and provides access for the local residencies. That’s us elders list now. As I say, this was one of possibly one of the oldest sections of segregated cycle way in the city. looking at about 2011. Judging by Google Street View, it was originally known as the Anderson to Kelvin Grove cycle route and later be rebranded as the City Way. As I say, there’s only four of those. It itself has been superseded by the current more expansive avenues program that seeks to move much more carriageway space to benefit active travel. Just waiting to cross St. Vincent Street. Here we’ll be next. Here we go. As we just crossed Dorset Street here, the official route is via this shared crossing. No traffic. Normally though if clear I will cross diagonally using the brakes and the segregation. Just turning on to Berkeley Street now. And just ahead we’ve got two places of worship. On the corner with Claremont Street, there’s the central gerdoara seek temple opened in 2016 and can hold 1,500 worshippers. And we have the Tron Church at Kell Grove, which reopened as a a church building in also in 2016, but it was originally built in 1865. No. And in the more recent years, it hosted the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, RSNO. It was known as the Henrywood Hall. We’re just about to cross Saki Hall Street here. You can see Kelvin Grove Park up ahead. What we’ll do is we’ll uh do a quick circuit around Kelvin Grove Park. You can skip ahead to the return journey if you don’t wish to see that. Just crossing onto North Claremont Street now. That shared section. Just have to cross Royal Terrace here. And that’s us in Kelvin Grove Park. 11 minutes 6 seconds. Not bad. Kelvin Grove Park itself was open to the public in July 1853. That’s 172 years ago exactly. At the time the city was expanding westwards and it was thought that it would benefit the folk in the west, those in the east already having Glasggo green. We’ll just briefly exit here. have the Kelvin Grove Art Gallery and Museum which was constructed for the Glasgow International Exhibition 1901 and opened with the exhibition. That was a a major exhibition of the day showing of technological advancements and all sorts. We’ve got partic, more commonly known as the snow bridge. It was built and included railings that could be opened to dump snow into the Kelvin River. You can see Glasgow University over the river there. Plenty of Buda. No doubt eating into the structure. I couldn’t get a date for that bridge, but I think it was circa 1800, which would make it possibly the oldest structure in our route. Here on the right are the Sunlight Cottages. Another leftover from the 1901 exhibition named after a model village in the world meride by the factory owners. The Lever Brothers company still around today is Uni Weaver. [Music] We’ll just cross over the Kelvin way once This was closed to [Music] traffic in 2020 to create more space for walking and cycling during co fencing here will be for the the band stand program of summer concerts. Not sure who’s on tonight. This is the Prince of Wales Bridge. [Music] All right. Now a good honor she more than you catch me doing just alongside the Kelvin here. Uh the Kelvin walkway on the left here. Little stick with our circuit of the park. As we claim to the highest point Jesus Christ. Let me just catch my breath. This is a viewpoint and the Robert’s Memorial said to be the finest equestrian statue in the city. It was unveiled and 1916 and was a replica of a similar statue in India, Kolkata where he was in charge of Indian British Indian forces. We’ll just leave the part briefly. to show you these the park garden steps. So, as I say, the park was landscaped in 1853, but it was still a couple of years until all the features were added like this granite stair architect Charles Wilson. somewhat costly and possibly not in the best position, but was said to be one of the best viewing points in the city along with Queens Park. Bit obscured with tree growth now. No doubt they were much smaller in the 1850s, 60 steps. The early plans had statues on these big plints. possibly abandoned that idea due to cost, but impressive nonetheless. Not a good idea to leave the bike for too long, unattended. Let’s complete our circuit. Hope you enjoyed that trip around the park. It was originally known as the West End Park and it’s shown like and some of the old maps, but checking the newspapers, it was designated Kelvin Grove Park from 1853. Just straight ahead there, you’ve got the Glasgow G School. Several GA schools in the city. I think there’s another one under construction. Let’s go. Red light there for that delivery cyclist. Yes. So if you fancy a church service every Sunday here, Tron Church, Kelvin Grove at 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. It’s the church I go to. Paying attention to his phone. Right. I just want to say briefly show you this building straight ahead. So the central gird showed you earlier built in 2016. This was the previous gird. It was actually built as a military drill hall around 1875 and it hosted a volunteer unit, artillery volunteers. At the time it was just after the Crimea war and there was worries that British forces were spread too thinly and then in the event of an invasion from France. they wouldn’t be able to to fight effectively. So these volunteer units were set up and later provided the nucleus for the territorial army. but you wouldn’t know that to look at it. And I find it quite fascinating that there’s structures just sitting there that were built way before the World Wars. I’ve stood pretty good neck ever since. Not sure what the future will be now. Let’s go. Just straight ahead of us on our G Street, we’ve got the pyramid at Anderson. Originally built in 1968 as Anderson Parish Church. At the time, they were looking to get away from traditional church architecture. which they seem to have achieved, even if it’s a heart back to ancient Egypt. I just want to quickly show you these utility boxes painted that happened earlier in the year. makes a nice change from the usual green and the graffiti that tends to attract. Here’s another one on Macintosh Street. Success to the town of Glasgow. And you’ve got the bird, the tree, the bell, and the fish there. em uh emblems from the city coat of arms and some very well pottery 1777 to 1918 a local business from the Anderson Yeah. Originally, this would have been Anderson Main Street and it would have run into the city. Got 77 cyclists eastbound. 90 westbound. Not huge numbers really. Adventure to say this may be not not just the shortest and the oldest, but possibly the least used cycle way. However, [Applause] that’s not to say they make traffic there. That’s not to say people use individual sections. Most usually I come along the river Clyde and then cut up and join the cycle way there rather than the city section. You’ve got the Anderson Center on the right here. An example of brutalist architecture I think from the 80s. Alan Alan Gwood worked in there. Hosted a number of offices and businesses. Much of it empty now as well as some high flats above. I check. Not sure that was 30. as I say, this junction was redeveloped in uh new lights. open last just in June there uh to join up to this new cycle lane up Pit Street runs all the way to Saki Hall Street as part of the Holland Street and Pit Street Avenue. Uh, but it does take longer to cross cuz it replaced a shared pedestrian crossing which like this one you could cross on red are clear. But my interpretation of the cycle specific traffic lights is that they’re mandatory. Yeah. So, there were a couple of reasons I wanted to do these videos. So, one was just to get a visual record of what the cycle routes look like in summer 2025. And another was to show how easy it is to get from the city center to a park area by bike. So, we were talking Just over 11 minutes and mostly segregated or quiet roads and these original sections have stood up well. um not been redeveloped and been there for 10 years plus. And the new cycle waves that are being built today don’t look that much different. So, just looking ahead to Central Station that was opened in 1879. It’s one of two terminal stations in Glasgow, the other being Queen Street Station. And excluding the Patel building we see ahead of us that were built at the same time, used 10 million bricks. So it was a fair piece of engineering. And as we head back onto Garden Street, just want to thank you for watching. I hope you find it interesting. Tried to do a we bit of history. as well as the rits themselves. So, thanks very much folks. See you next time.