Garnet Street, Glasgow

Image: © Ian Dodds Taken: 31 Jul 2025

Garnet Street runs for three blocks. This is the northernmost of its three sections, and despite being pretty steep it is the only one that doesn't have a sign warning motorists about the gradient that they are about to have to deal with. The middle section is 14% and the Southernmost is 17% and both go downhill from this direction. If you stand at the North end of the middle section you can watch people (in my case, the two in this picture) walking down the steepest bit and slowly disappearing from view until only their heads and shoulders remain. These days, vehicles can only drive up the inclines. This may be because in the late 1960s, a lorry's brakes failed heading down that steep section. It ploughed into a stationery shop on Sauchiehall Street, killing one person and injuring lots more. It also demolished the building's support struts; therefore the building itself eventually had to be demolished. There are anecdotal reports stating that the lorry remained in its crashed position for months/years afterwards, because the lorry was now supporting the weight of the building. The replacement building doesn't actually look particularly out of place, but is fairly obvious when you know the story.

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