Save Glasgow's Paddy's Market from Closure

On the 20th March 2008, Paddy's Market was branded as a "crime-ridden midden" by Glasgow City Council which has given the green light to the spending of hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money to close Paddy's Market down and use it for their own purposes.

Paddy's, Glasgow's oldest market is central (and not just geographically) to our city's history and culture. Its name is a legacy of the waves of Irish immigrants who fled post-famine poverty to what would soon become the Second City of the Empire.

Initially a second-hand clothes market for the city's poor and dispossessed, its traders now sell a wider range of secondhand and new goods to a wider community. More importantly, it is a city landmark, a tourist attraction and, at heart, simply a place for locals to meet and work together. It is a village within the city that welcomes visitors with the legendary Glaswegian humour and repartee. Its closure will result both in the loss of livelihoods and a vital community resource.

The majority of the crime statistics on which the council is basing its actions are unrelated to trading at Paddy’s Market. They focus on a broader city-wide problem of drug-dealing and abuse. Glasgow City Council's own policy for the housing of people with chronic drug abuse and addictions has led to a vastly increased influx of addicts and dealers in the local area.

Consequently, contrary to its PR campaign, the council's plans to close Paddy's Market will not rid the local community of this problem. The people who are at the heart of this crime wave will remain in the area.

The people of Paddy’s Market are prepared to address and act on Glasgow City Council’s concerns but are being denied the opportunity to do so. They have never been involved the 2-year dialogue or negotiations between the council and the market's landowners Network Rail. They want to be part of that dialogue to save their livelihoods and, in doing so, retain Paddy's Market as a rich part of Glasgow's heritage.