July 17 2025

Contractors are invited to tender for the latest of Glasgow's Avenues public realm programme, the upgrade of a major shopping thoroughfare stretching from Central Station to Glasgow Cross.

Argyle Street East will complement ongoing work to the western end of the route with widened pavements, new planting and public spaces. A new bus route will also run the length of the pedestrianised section of the street, streamlining journeys.

Once complete the Avenue will enable the extension of pedestrian-priority spaces to Queen Street, Ingram Street and Candleriggs with a commensurate reduction in traffic.

Cllr Angus Millar, Convener for City Centre Recovery and Transport, said: “The Argyle Street East Avenue is about readying these famous streets for the century ahead.  Recent decades have been tough for this part of town but we’re seeing new turnaround developments on Trongate, major new retail offerings on Argyle Street and global employers investing in new headquarters just further west."

A start on site is expected early next year, in tandem with ongoing improvements to George Square. 

14 Comments

#1 Posted by Fat Bloke on Tour on 17 Jul 2025 at 10:47 AM

So the Argyle Street pedestrian area is no more -- the buses are back in town in a Thin Lizzy type of way.

Back to the 70's with the local Nats and Holyrood leading the charge -- not good.

Council gum-bumping ...
Just where do we get these muppets from?
AI inspired anodyne dross would be a step up.

#2 Posted by Dazed and Confused on 17 Jul 2025 at 11:56 AM

Why on earth are we re-introducing bus traffic through Argyle Street? Surely we want to reduce city centre traffic as much as possible.

There are already sustainable public transport options into Argyle Street with both the subway and Argyle Street station. Why not create a new public seating area in the middle?

#3 Posted by monkey9000 on 17 Jul 2025 at 12:01 PM

Great idea! Argyle St is down in the dumps and routing the buses round Ingram St is a nightmare. Goodness knows how many people have been knocked down on those Argyle St corners. More eyes and movement can only help matters!

#4 Posted by Chris on 17 Jul 2025 at 12:29 PM

#2 Buses are public transport and their current route up to Ingram St and back down Glassford causes a lot of congestion on these streets.

#5 Posted by Roddy_ on 17 Jul 2025 at 12:41 PM

I haven't seen the tender drawings but one hopes there is better consistency than in the visualisations. Why are there 3 different style tree planters in each of the images? And, moreover, why are there planters at all in Ingram Street. I cannot think of any underground tunnels or infrastructure that might preclude them - or is it a value engineering proposal. Ironically, the place that could do WITH tree planters and where there is known underground infrastructure is at the front of Marks and Spencer between Miller and Glassford Streets - alas I can't see any.
Randomly placing seats at jaunty angles with backs to the traffic disnae really cut it either, the designers really ought to study their Prospect and Refuge Theory and come up woth better arrangements that actually make sense in the street context.

#6 Posted by MiniLad on 17 Jul 2025 at 12:52 PM

Is this what below rock bottom, looks like?

#7 Posted by Fat Bloke on Tour on 17 Jul 2025 at 13:26 PM

Argyll Street changes -- why do we need kerbs?

Bus breaks down -- carnage.
Big design fail -- to schoolboy howler levels of failure.

Why do we need bike lanes?
Another anti-pedestrian move.
Sustrans calling the shots / holding the budget?

Really poor all round -- Transport 1400 here we come or don't if we live outside the city centre.

Remodelling the area around St Enochs offers the possibility of a better / more complete solution but that would take innovation / energy / vision but after 18 years plus of Nat failure -- any old tripe will do.

The anti-car agenda is just so much middle class self loathing / self harm.

Prepared to die in a ditch to keep the motability car fleet growing like topsy but no chance if they want or need to take the car into the city centre.

Strange world / strange viewpoint.

#8 Posted by Nico on 17 Jul 2025 at 13:40 PM

If the plan is to stop or severely limit traffic going up Queen St and onto Ingram St then all for it. Pretty daft that the majority of buses go that way before heading east to Glasgow Cross, which the new route resolves in a common sense approach...so possible good news.

Also, love the image for Queen St / Ingram St facing onto GOMA. Fabulous.

#9 Posted by G Man on 17 Jul 2025 at 13:49 PM

Since 1992 when a pedestrian got knocked down by a 62 bus at the corner of Argyle Street and the former Maxwell Street (Debenhams Corner) buses have been doing the one way like a game of snake as the streets behind the Debenhams block were closed off. When someone got knocked down on the opposite side of the street, again, by a bus, I thought that the suggestion would come up that we close Queen Street as well, but they've decided to re-open Argyle Street again to buses after almost 50 years of an absence. An idea that also contributed to the demise of Paisley High St.

#10 Posted by Johnjo on 17 Jul 2025 at 17:05 PM

The illustrations of the planned improvements look very similar to the street as it is now, or rather, how it should be if it was kept clean. An occasional visitor to the city might be excused for failing to notice that Sauchiehall Street, for example, has been repaved - the same overall look could have been achieved by powerwashing the surface and removing the disgusting top coat of chewing-gum.
This latest, extremely expensive, facelift will simply go the same way as previous ones unless GCC realises that work, once done, needs to be repaired and kept clean.

#11 Posted by Georwell84 on 17 Jul 2025 at 17:26 PM

Great I just wish they did not pushed any traffic round Queen/Ingram street at all. Wide pavements with trees would have been better.

#12 Posted by Georwell84 on 17 Jul 2025 at 17:36 PM

Is this a one way bus route?

#13 Posted by End User #23123 on 18 Jul 2025 at 08:42 AM

Glasgow will be famous for having the yellowest lines in the world and some of the worst (recent) urban design in the world!

I guess our city is like an alcoholic in design terms at the moment- it needs to go to rock bottom to start realising and improving...

Surely when design intentions are this poor they can only get better!

#14 Posted by Nico on 18 Jul 2025 at 09:22 AM

Post 11 - This is my hope too.

Many bus drivers take that corner from Argyle St into Queen St far too quickly. The current bus(es) routes to go left into Queen St...then right into Ingram St...then right into Glassford Street...then left into Trongate has been plain daft for donkeys years. Too much traffic, heavy congestion and extra time onto so many journeys...whereas the new route is shorter, quicker and keeps public transport moving!

The visual displaying GOMA in the background looks really good. I hope this comes to fruition with nothing other than emergency and delivery vehicles having access to Queen St from Argyle St.

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