WalkingSquares: Cooper’s
About 18 months ago I wrote a post on some of Glasgow’s clock towers, but I forgot about this one which I pass regularly when walking down Great Western Road. Cooper & Co was founded by Thomas Bishop in 1871 and became one of Scotland’s leading grocery shop chains. This branch, famous for its French Renaissance facade and clock tower, was built in 1886 and contained beautiful fixtures and fittings – you can see an image on The Glasgow Story. By the time we moved to Glasgow in 1986, Cooper’s was a pub and it has had various names over the years – now it’s simply Coopers again (no apostrophe). The Victorians being as confident as they were that their buildings would last forever with their original purpose, there are several traces of the original name around it – ghost signs, if you like, though these are very substantial ghosts. I know this is WalkingSquares, but I’m sure Becky will forgive me some non-squared pictures to end with.
The Glasgow Gallivanter 
I love this building. I wish the beauty from original times is kept but time has s Way of destroying this.
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At least the building is still there, even if the interior is not the same. So many beautiful old buildings have been lost.
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if only we built like this these days!
And of course you are forgiven, especially as you managed to make the gallery itself square 😀
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If only! I did notice the gallery was square, but I have WordPress to thank for that.
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You should take all the credit xxx
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I had a look at the interior on The Glasgow Story and was amazed to see how beautiful it was! To think we only missed seeing it as originally designed by a decade or less. I have to admit, in the 30 years I have lived in this city I have never ventured inside Coopers. Now I’m intrigued to see what is left of that stunning interior!
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I haven’t been in for many years but from the windows it just looks like a typical pub. When it was Chimichanga’s my memory is lots of bare wood so I suspect the ornate stuff has gone.
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Ah, that’s a shame. No tiled floors or decorative plasterwork? Criminal if they ripped out all the original features! The big mahogany shop counter would have made a perfect bar, too. The 1980s have a lot to answer for…
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I don’t know for sure – I could be wrong! Perhaps we’ll have to have an outing down there to find out.
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Good plan! I can return your John Patrick Byrne book too, having read it cover-to-cover and found a copy of my own.
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Will email soon!
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I love learning the background story of an old building. This one looks lovely.
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Glasgow is full of these gems, even though many have been lost.
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Beautiful Clock Tower and Tiling.
And you have my vote for forgiveness concerning the non-squared final pics! 😀
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Thank you, Donna! They just didn’t work squared.
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Fab floor tiles!
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They are wonderful, aren’t they?
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Marvellous that they are still there
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Love the pavement inscription and the tiling. The Victorians did many things so very well.
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They did, aesthetically speaking at least, though they could get over-fussy. I think this one is the right side of elegance.
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Always a beautiful and iconic building with a dusky flavour of the exotic east thanks to the range of different spices they used to sell and Cleopatra’s shady charms situated directly across the street….
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I never knew it as a grocer’s. I remember it with a Mexican theme (Chimichunga’s) but haven’t been in for years. And I confess I was never in Clatty Pat’s!
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Lovely to see those Victorian features remaining!
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I do admire the fact that Cooper’s owners were so confident in the brand that they wrote the name into the pavement – twice!
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Nothing like those Victorian floor tiles, I have always fancied a hallway with those tiles.
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Still quite a lot here – sometimes in Victorian villas, for which you would need megabucks, but some in tenement closes too. They are beautiful.
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A very unusual clock tower, I like it, and I love the (presumably Minton) floor tiles in the entrance 🙂
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I think they must be Minton. You still se quite a lot in Glasgow tenements.
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