IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Colquhoun Street, HELENSBURGH, G84 8AJ

The building on the left was built for The National Bank of Scotland by A N Paterson and Stoddart in 1928. It is currently to let. It is category B listed http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB34746.

The Journey, on the corner of West Clyde Street and Colquhoun Street is a fitness centre. The Category B listed building [http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB34746] was built as the National Bank of Scotland in 1928.

This picture was taken two weeks after the completion of the landscaping in front of the new Swimming Pool and Leisure Centre. The same shot, but 19 years earlier, is shown at Image

A Category C listed building, dating from 1909 http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB34745. The shops on the ground floor are Tweedie (selling Harris Tweed products) and Fantastic Nails (a nails spa).

This 2004 shot illustrates the impermanence of town centre businesses. In the foreground, picnickers are using a skate park area which in years gone by had been an open air swimming pool. This land is at present (January 2023) part of a building site, peppered with diggers and concrete slabs, within the new Swimming Pool and Leisure Centre complex. The commercial properties in the background have also evolved. From left to right: the former National Bank of Scotland listed building at number 24, has morphed into the Lloyds Bank, the National Commercial Bank of Scotland, the Royal Bank of Scotland and then a gym. It currently appears to be occupied, but does not display its business title. At 20–23 West Clyde Street, Woolworths opened in 1934, closed in January 2009 and is currently a Wilkies store. At 19 West Clyde Street, Tweedie, a specialist tweed and leather boutique has taken over from Café 19. Similarly, Lady M fashions has been superseded by Fantastic Nails at number 17. This is another listed building. Happit ladies clothing store suddenly closed its doors at 14-16 West Clyde Street at Christmas 2012 and is currently a DEBRA charity shop. The tower which appears to come out of the centre of Woolworth’s roof is in fact the top of the former St Columba’s Church at 81 Sinclair Street. It is now the Tower Digital Arts Centre with its adjacent church hall repurposed as the Scottish Submarine Centre on West King Street. The same shot, but nineteen years later is shown at Image,

According to their website, Vanilla has been supplying ice cream, artisan coffees and sweet treats to locals and visitors for over 10 years. The shop on the right appears to have been closed for at least that long.

A tenement block with shops below on West Clyde Street. It was built in 1909 for J R Marten by T and J Low. The current shops are Tweedie, which sells goods made from tweed; and Fantastic Nails, 'Professional nail care for ladies and gents'.