What makes Glasgow? People of course, as the city’s marketing slogan tells us.

But what do people in a city need, to make Glasgow? Well, they need places, places to go, places to meet, to drink, to eat, places where people can be people.

People who live there, people who work there and people who come to visit for the many great things this particular city has on offer.

It looks like we will be losing two more places for people to meet and visitors to enjoy.

READ MORE Historic pub to be flatened for hotel 

Another generic glass hotel block is proposed to replace a corner of the city centre which houses two famous and long-standing hospitality businesses.

O Sole Mio on Bath Street and the Iron Horse pub, one of the city’s oldest, round the corner on West Nile Street, would be reduced to rubble to make way for a sterile structure.

It’s only one pub and one restaurant, you could argue, in a city full of pubs and restaurants.

But it’s not the first time, not even at the that junction, that a piece of old Glasgow has been sacrificed for the new.

READ MORE Makeover plan for People Make Glasgow landmark

Diagonally opposite, older readers will remember the Bay Horse pub, where now Evans Cycles sits, built as part of the extension to Buchanan Galleries. It closed after a fire and then the site was redeveloped for retail.

The development also spelled the end of the Caprese restaurant on Buchanan Street, a city centre favourite for Glaswegians and visitors for many years.

Both those mentioned may not be architecturally super important but the spaces were, and are, well used and well loved by many people for many years.

All over the city centre the big blocks have been appearing for several years now.

If the plan for the city centre is ‘placemaking’, is demolishing places were people meet and socialise and replacing them with bright, shiny places were people toil at keyboards and screens in open plan office floors the way forward.

On Argyle Street towards Anderston, another development is underway.

The blocks, which were at one time architecturally pleasing, have been demolished and will be replaced by another glass and steel hotel and office development.

The building had been allowed to fall into a disgraceful state of disrepair, to the extent it was an eyesore and an embarrassment to the city.

The owners should never have been allowed to let that happen. That was not architectural vandalism but architectural murder and they got away with it.

Candleriggs in Merchant City is still home to a big gap site, after another demolition and loss of a famous city institution, Granny Black’s when an adjoining building suddenly collapsed.

The same can be seen in other parts of the city. On West Regent Street a corner block has been decaying for years and it will be a surprise to no-one when it also becomes the site of another big development.

Yes, it may be a sign that the city is attractive to developers and economically it can please those who count success in numbers and pound signs.

But every time somewhere like the Iron Horse or O Sole Mio closes for good, a little bit of the city’s soul is stripped away.

Glasgow is changing before our eyes. Sometimes for the better but at the expense of the city’s individuality.

The bottom of Buchanan Street is still one of the best streets in Scotland. Viewed from the top of the street on a sunny day it is quite a sight. It is recognisably a Glasgow scene.

North of the Subway entrance however, it is devoid of character and could be anywhere in the UK until you reach the Concert Hall steps.

The city centre cannot become, in future years, full of offices, hotels and shopping centres with nondescript exteriors and identical interiors, purpose built for the needs of investors and developers, who didn’t see the need for atmosphere or character anywhere in the list of requirements at the design stage.

They may look striking on a computer generated artist’s impression, but in real life are actually boring and lifeless.

Who ever sat down in a shopping mall food court and said, “This is a lovely place?”

Glasgow still has many fine buildings, bars and restaurants but compared to other UK and European cities it is losing a lot of the old character at a fast pace.

There are big plans for Glasgow city centre in the pipeline as it is re-evaluated and the ambition is for it to be a vibrant attractive place for people to spend time.

Changes to George Square are coming and The Avenues project which has created more space for people not traffic on Sauchiehall Street will be extended to Argyle Street and other parts of the city centre.

Just like the people, Glasgow is full of character.

We need to preserve what is distinctive about the city’s character and build on it, not sell it to developers, some of who would knock down the Colosseum, build a shopping mall and call it regeneration.

Change is good and should be embraced but so is heritage and authenticity.