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.

Looking up

Entrance tiles

Pavement inscription

Pavement inscription