Barlanark
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Barlanark is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is east of the districts of Shettleston, Budhill, north of Baillieston , west of Swindon and Springhill and south of Easterhouse.
The name Barlanark is an apparently hybrid Gaelic-Brythonic name suggesting the hill at the clearing from the Gaelic bàrr and Brythonic lanerc meaning "clearing".[1]
Barlanark was developed in response to the city's post-war housing need: In 1946 over 2300 four and five apartment tenements were built around Barlanark House[1], which was constructed by David Hamilton in 1822, demolished in 1972. These tenements were characterised by brick balconies and although once under local authority control many are now under co-operative ownership.
The area has a history steeped in violence and gang culture. The most well know and notorious of these was the BAR-L team. This gang was made up of members from Barlanark and the surrounding areas. One of the most well known members was Tam "the Licensee" McGraw. Thomas McGraw The area was part of the Glasgow Ice Cream Wars of the 80s.
One of the most notorious of locations during this period was the Caravel Pub on Hallhill Road. The pub was owned and operated by Tam McGraw. The pub was a well known place in the Glasgow underworld, it was the scene of much violence and was known to have drive by shootings as well as grenades thrown through the windows. The Pub was razed to the ground in a fire in 1991 after the alleged murder of Bobby Glover and Joe "Bananas" Hanlon by the then crime lord Arthur Thompson for the killing of his son. In 2002, Thomas "TC" Campbell of the Ice Cream Wars was attacked in Barlanark by Tam McGraw who hit him over the head with a golf club. The incident made local news but at the time TC never admitted who his attackers were and no charges where ever brought for this.
The area has seen large amount of development over the last 15 years with most of the 1950s tenements replaced by housing cooperatives.
The main schools of the area included Barlanark primary school, Sandaig Primary school and St Jude's Primary school. Barlanark Primary has been merged with Sandaig. The site of Barlanark primary was demolished and is currently being rebuilt as a new Catholic primary school to take over from St Jude's and another school in the area of Wellhouse.
The area is home to mainly working class and unemployed persons. It is still the scene of violence and gangs which are mainly made up of teenagers drinking in the street.
Hallhill Road contains a row of small size shops and a Community Centre. The road also includes a local pub, Morgans, which again is rumoured to be owned by Tam McGraw.
Well-known people from Barlanark include the former footballer Pat Nevin and Pat Fairley, from the pop group Marmalade. Others include the Hibs football player Steven Dobbie, Partick Thistle player William Howie, various members of the Group Scheme and Michelle O'Brien who stars in the TV show River City. Paul Harvey, Who used to play for Airdrie also comes from Barlanark.
Barlanark has changed over the years after the re-generation program and now the houses have all been redone to make the place much better place to live now. There is also a new bar opened up in Barlanark called Morgans.
