Don MacLeod: Barrowlands to get overdue fix-up funds but the Ballroom will lie untouched

It will get £27 million from Glasgow City Council to transform it into a go-to area instead of one you’d avoid like the plague.

For far too long this market area with its world renowned and much loved venue has been neglected by city planners, cultural ambassadors and funding agencies.

This once-magical weekend market, a buzzing bargain hunter’s imaginarium full of the exciting sights, sounds and smells of a proud working-class city has been allowed to slowly crash and burn.

Lying empty and forlorn, a sad reminder of the halcyon days gone by. A place you now hurry through, not stop and explore.

The Barrowland Ballroom has also suffered badly, so much so it seemed odds-on to share the same tragic fate as Glasgow’s other much-missed and revered live venue, The Apollo.

Lacking leadership and imagination from their very secretive owners when competition eventually materialised in the form of a similar-sized newer venue, they ignored the threats and challenges this well connected and financed usurper presented.

The £27 million as part of Westminster’s and the Scottish Government’s £1 billion City Deal scheme has indeed been earmarked for this dilapidated part of Glasgow.

A new museum, piazzas, cafes, bars, artist areas and shops have been factored in to this new exciting project.

As my enthused, driven friend and music lover Frank McAveety, leader of Glasgow City Council, rightly says: “The Barras is a legendary part of Glasgow’s landscape and a fantastic asset”.

I couldn’t agree more and as I have already pointed out it is an investment that is well overdue and a long time in coming.

But there is one very serious point not being made and one that I took up with Frank – that not one pound, not one single penny will actually be spent on the focal point of this vibrant and imaginative scheme – the Barrowland Ballroom!

When the slabs are laid and the concrete poured, when the services are installed and the bus lanes painted, when the trees are planted and gardens landscaped, when the coffees are brewed and punters arrive, The Barrowland Ballroom, unless there is a change of heart and direction, will still be sitting gloomily brooding in silence over all it pervades.

The lonely giant not wanting to play.

Maybe I’ve got it all wrong, maybe there are plans afoot, investment for this wonderful venue yet to be disclosed. An announcement that will gladly make a total mockery of my words.

I hope so, I take no pleasure in writing them and I would gladly be proven wrong and embarrassed for doing so. I love this venue and the people who work there. I have over the years promoted many shows in there, seen hundreds of thousands of music fans enjoy and savour the unique atmosphere this venue has to offer.

I care about the place as if it were one of my own venues and hope against hope that it remains and is not one day sold off to housing developers.

The popular soundbite used to be “The Barras is Better ” but the sad reality at the moment is “The Barras Deserves Better”.

And I only hope one day soon that all changes and we can revert to the original!

Donald MacLeod: The Brit Awards are now a borefest