Glasgow Times readers pick city's best street names

Responding to a Facebook post we published, city dwellers took the time to share the best, strangest and most obscure street names in Glasgow. 

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Clayslaps Road 

A clear favourite was Clayslaps Road, a lane between Sauchiehall Street and Dumbarton Road. 

Coming in somewhere between a square go and that scene from Ghostwith the pottery class, this street can't really make its mind up about what it's about. 

There are also no addresses on the street, but according to reader Louis Hanlon-Butcher, it is the shortest street in Glasgow with a bus stop.

It is a named stop on buses heading into the West End but the stand itself is on Sauchiehall Street. 

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Celtic Street 

One that might divide readers was Hugh Gallagher's choice of Celtic Street in Maryhill. 

The name alone might be able to put off the most ardent Rangers fans, this street also confusingly includes two separate cul-de-sacs which shoot off the original road in two different directions, which might put it in the postie's bad books, too.  

Paisley Road West 

On the other side of the fence, we had a number of suggestions for the main thoroughfare connecting Ibrox Stadium with the city centre, with a plethora of Gers-friendly pubs on the way. 

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It's one of Glasgow's longest streets and connects more separate neighbourhoods than perhaps any other single street in the entire city. If you can think of one to beat it, let us know in the comments. 

Mafeking Street

This street is not one to be messed with and it would be a brave man who would try to claim this street as his own. 

Reader Natalie Reid revealed the colourfully named street, which forms part of an industrial estate behind Ibrox Stadium, as her favourite street name in the city. 

Goosedubbs

Not Goosedubbs Lane, or Goosedubbs Street. Just Goosedubbs.

The story of how this street got its name is an interesting one if slightly improbable.  

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Goosedubbs, a lane that comes off Stockwell Street in the city centre, gives its name to Dear Green Place's signature blend of coffee. 

The coffee roasters theorise that the name comes from the site's status as the former home of a Lord Provost. John Aird's mansion used to stand nearby (hence the neighbouring street called Aird's Lane) and the former Lord Provost had a penchant for keeping geese, who were known to gather in puddles - or dubbs - in the street. As you do.  

Dunwan Avenue

Another favourite is Dunwan Avenue, which runs between Kelso Street in Yoker and Dyke Road. We're just wondering if anyone has ever dun wan down Dunwan Avenue. 

Both this and Goosedubbs were picked by reader Heather Merry, who would have won this if we were giving out prizes. 

Stair Street

Maryhill was mentioned again with the ever-popular Stair Street.

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For those not in the know, reader Yvonne Seager explained that the "street" isn't actually a street at all but a set of stairs that connects Braeside Street with Kelvinside Drive and Kelvinside Gardens.

It's not actually clear whether this was named by the council or just locals having a laugh but either way, it tops the list for the oddest "street" in the city. 

Sauchiehall Street and Buchanan Street

Glasgow's main shopping areas, Sauchiehall Street and Buchanan Street were also popular choices among readers.

As well as having quite pleasing names, both evoke memories of nights out, Christmas shopping trips and days of commuting or working in the city. 

Sauchiehall Street, proudly unpronounceable for anyone from outside of Scotland, comes from the words sauchie - which means "abounding in willows" - and hauch - which means a low lying meadow beside a river.

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Buchanan Street was built on lands owned by Andrew Buchanan, a tobacco merchant and former Lord Provost. 

Edinburgh Road

We're hoping this one is a wind-up.

Morris Kessler said - we hope ironically - that Edinburgh Road was his favourite place in Glasgow and is named after "the best place in Scotland". 

Kaiser Street

John Bones, who clearly has a long memory, said his favourite street in Glasgow was Kaiser Street. Eagle-eyed readers will know there is no such street in Glasgow - anymore.

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File photo dated 1916 of Kaiser Wilhelm II distributing Iron Crosses on the Western Front.

It is now called Marne Street in the city's Dennistoun. A map from 1912 shows the street. There is no public information on when the name changed but it can be noted that two years after the publication of that map, the First World War broke out and the German leader's name was not held in such high esteem.

The best of the rest of the west 

We've not included these with the Glasgow streets but they were too good to ignore.

• Agamemnon Street, Clydebank. Named by an over-educated town planner for the mythical king of Mycenae and a leader in the Trojan War. 
• Gogo Street, Largs. Named by a town planner who spent too much time in 1960s nightclubs ogling the dancers.
• Muttonhole Road, Hamilton. We don't want to know who named this street or why.