People reminice on Glasgow at Christmas time

We ask the People of Glasgow how they used to celebrate Christmas in the city when they were younger.

Transcript

00:00Taken to the cafe for something special to eat?

00:02You'd be good at this, you'd be quite good at interviewing people.

00:05When I was a wee boy I remember it was a special thing to come into Glasgow at Christmas

00:09because they had lights on all the streets like Circuit Hall Street,

00:13Buchanan Street, Argyle Street and it was all joined up.

00:17Getting a selection box and I used to get one from my auntie as well

00:24and as I got older she used to put a fiver in it.

00:27Cold and wet, that's been predominantly it.

00:31Nowadays it's a wee bit sparse so that was one lasting memory I have of Glasgow at Christmas.

00:37She stopped giving me my selection box when I got married.

00:40Used to snow a lot younger when I was younger but not now, now it's just cold and wet.

00:44Originally from Coatbridge so we used to come into town on the train

00:49as a special treat at Christmas, go to the pictures or something like that.

00:53What age were you there?

00:5428, so I was still getting a, maybe she stopped at about 25.

01:01So I liked my selection boxes.

01:03Have you taken to any particular shops like Littlewoods or any of these things?

01:06Littlewoods is a good one yes, I remember Littlewoods,

01:09that was just up the road there, you know for Marks and Spencers.

01:13I actually come in to specifically see the lights at Christmas time.

01:17Remember I used to get a bottle of soup from when I was younger, you know that was a treat.

01:21That was a treat.

01:22It's very much more commercial now and it starts earlier, which is I think ridiculous.

01:28Christmas is a December thing, not from Halloween, that kind of thing.

01:34And Santa's Grotto, there used to be, where the shopping centre for the inner centre,

01:40there used to be a shop down there that had a big Santa's Grotto, you know, I remember that.

01:45And were you ever scared of Santa?

01:46No, no he gave you presents and a cuddle.

01:52It's definitely evolved into a bit more commercial thing than a religious thing.