News - Culture - Stories From The Edge - City Life & Photography

Hugh Hood's Glasgow Through Time

The Glasgow of the 1970s was a city in flux, caught between the remnants of its industrial past and the promise of regeneration. Nowhere is this more poignantly captured than in the work of Hugh Hood, whose photography preserves the soul of a city that was rapidly changing.

LATESTGLASGOW EYES ZINE

1/31/20251 min read

The Glasgow of the 1970s was a city in flux, caught between the remnants of its industrial past and the promise of regeneration. Nowhere is this more poignantly captured than in the work of Hugh Hood, whose photography preserves the soul of a city that was rapidly changing.

One of his most striking images from this era shows a row of soot-covered tenements standing defiantly against the sky, their facades weathered by time and industry. Children play in the foreground, their laughter at odds with the crumbling landscape around them. These were the streets where generations of Glaswegians lived, where life was tough but community spirit was strong.

For many, Hood’s images evoke memories of tenement clearances, families being “decanted” to new high-rise flats on the city’s outskirts. Some saw these changes as progress—modern homes with indoor toilets and heating—but others mourned the loss of tightly-knit communities and the character of old Glasgow.

Looking at his photos now, we see a city that refused to be beaten, a Glasgow of resilience and working-class pride. Today, many of these once-forgotten areas have been transformed, but Hood’s images remain as a stark and beautiful reminder of the Glasgow that once was.

What are your memories of Glasgow in the 1970s? Let us know in the comments!