There are more coffee shops in Dumbarton than you could shake a teaspoon at. Do we really need another one?
I am only asking because we are getting another one, whether we like it or not. And it will be in the new library, which is to be created within Dumbarton’s oldest building, Glencairn House in the High Street.
For a cool £5 million. Whit? No, we are not joking. Black humour is something we don’t do at The Democrat.
Ask for directions to Glencairn House and anyone will tell you that it’s next to Costa Coffee, a major High Street brand coffee shop; almost in the same building as Greggs the baker, and a few yards from the Captain James Lang. And yet another charity shop, the Salvation Army no less.
Oh, and just across the street from Auld’s bakery shop which had to close because there wasn’t enough people drinking tea and coffee and buying their delicious prize-winning pies.
These businesses all have one thing in common. They all sell tea and coffee and buns and sandwiches.
And they’re just across the road from the Artizan Centre, where local people are trying to make a living out of selling tea and coffee and a bite to eat in Aunty’s Tearoom.
Go along the road a wee bit and there’s the Gossip Shop which has a fine reputation for its elevenses and afternoon teas. And cakes, glorious cakes.
What’s wrong with the library we’ve got? Neatly situated in Strathleven Place, it’s handy for the bus stops both ways and it has a recently refurbished car park next door to it, and there’s another one across the street at St Patrick’s Church Hall.
The library itself is a good size and you have to ask yourself if we really need a bigger one since fewer and fewer people are reading books these days.
Council leader Jonathan McColl and members of the local SNP politburo have decreed that we should have a coffee shop, despite the fact they turned down planning permission from a private company for something similar just a few months ago.
Jonathan and his hingers on – I fear another costly disaster in the making here, accompanied by a big hole in the public purse – are trumpeting that “work to transform Dumbarton’s oldest building into a state of the art museum and library has taken another step forward, with project managers appointed.”
And who are the project managers? Are they based in West Dunbartonshire? Not a chance.
We’re told that Leeds based Turner and Townsend were awarded a four month £150,000 contract for the transformation of Glencairn House, and that they will work with Glasgow’s PagePark architects to continue work on the £4.8m project.
You would think the SNP would want a Scottish firm to do this work, but no.
The redevelopment of Glencairn House will be funded by a £19 million grant from Prime Minister Boris Johnston’s Levelling Up fund,.
The council claim it will transform Dumbarton High Street “with the demolition of the Artizan Centre and redevelopment of the main shopping hub in the town”.
Who is kidding who here? I don’t recall planning permission being granted for the demolition of the Artizan Centre and the “redevelopment of the main shopping hub in the town.”
That’s just Fancy Dan language for knocking down what we have already and building new shops which we haven’t a snowball in hell’s chance of filling with tenants.
Unless they are council-funded coffee shops or charity shops, of course.
They claim the key to this will be the historic Glencairn House, with councillors initially approving plans in 2019 – before the pandemic put the development on hold. It is now hoped that the building will open in 2024. Hope is a four-letter word in Dumbarton.
At a meeting of West Dunbartonshire Council’s tendering committee last week, councillors approved the appointment of Turner and Townsend to manage the project – alongside architects PagePark.
Now PagePark are an excellent company with a big reputation, but why aren’t we using our own architect’s department for this?
Council procurement officer (we’re delighted to have one of them working for the council at last following that long-running corruption saga) Derek McLean explained the reasons behind choosing Turner and Townsend.
He said: “One of the main reasons why Turner and Townsend were a good fit for this project is because, through their supply chain, we’re able to retain the services of PagePark architects to take into detailed design.
“They can build on the work they have done in previous stages. The project will be managed from Turner and Townsend’s Glasgow office.
“Previous use of Turner and Townsend was one of the main drivers behind their selection. They have committed to paying above the living wage, and any additional social benefits will be discussed at the implementation stage.”
“They have worked on the documents and have an intimate knowledge of the fine details, so it makes sense to me to keep them on.”
We have been told previously that another consultant would be brought in at a cost of around £80,000 to envision what the new centre of the town, rather than the town centre, would look like. Is that another £80,000 down the river or is it the same one?
It looks from what has been revealed in the past couple of weeks that there is no need for this guy or gal who can look into the future to be brought in. Mystic Meg might be available though.
As for the rest of that £20 MILLION that Boris is sending up the Clyde (in a banana boat possibly), I think we should donate that tranche of public money to the Ukraine Emergency Fund. I really do.
That would be much better than allowing Council leader Jonathan McColl and the SNP, supported as ever by the autocratic Bailie Denis Agnew, to get their hands on it.
If there’s a museum coming up as part of this project then these two should be major exhibits in it as part of a ducking stool project since we are so close to the river.
I say this because Cllr Agnew appears to know little of West Dunbartonshire outside Clydebank. According to a council press release he appears to think the Turkey Red factory was in Dumbarton and not in the Vale.
We are now told that Agnew’s committee – yes, that’s the one that spent £25,000 on a painting a couple of weeks ago – is to spend £3250 for 250 copies of Clydebank author Tom McKendrick’s book on the Blitz.
I hope readers don’t think I received anything like that when I wrote TWO books about Dunbartonshire, including Clydebank, and donated some to Dumbarton Library and old folk’s groups to give away free of charge. I didn’t.
I think they spent £90 on half a dozen copies of All Our Yesterdays and Two Minutes Silence. Do you think I am miffed? Of course I am. Who wouldn’t be?
Bailie Agnew said: “The 80th anniversary of the Clydebank Blitz is so important and we should try and draw a conclusion to everything while survivors are still with us.”
What does that mean? That we should never mention The Clydebank Blitz ever again after he struts his stuff with his gold chain around his neck on this public financed civic occasion?
I note he has swerved away from a previous civic reception he was involved in on Remembrance Sunday when he invited only those and such as those to the town hall reception afterwards.
Items on display are set to include a Roman Medallion found in the town, a logbook from the Cutty Sark and 15th and 16th century Royal Charters.
The new development will also offer panoramic views onto the River Leven and Levengrove Park and a cafe, whilst the existing Dumbarton Library will become an archive and research centre.
And, let’s not forget – and those of us who lived through the ‘Sixties will not forget it in a hurry, the dirt and chaos of the past that will for years no doubt accompany the Artizan Centre and much of the High Street being demolished.
Perhaps we could also have a statue of distinguished citizens such as the SNP leader Jonathan McColl based on the famous Rodin sculpture of The Thinker. We could call ours The Stinker?
Meanwhile, councillors have given the green light to plans for a number of improvements in Dumbarton’s Denny Civic Theatre, including a brand new professional audio and visual system.
The theatre, has which has been closed since March 2020 is part of the Concord Centre which was used as a vaccination centre during the pandemic, has been given the green light for a number of improvements, including an upgrade of the current changing facilities, redecorating, and improving toilet provisions and a new professional audio and video system will be installed as well.
We can only hope the contract for this went out to tender and that a local contractor was appointed to do the work.
Many of the improvements will be long-term, but the Council say the installation of the sound and lighting equipment will take priority to ensure the building is opened as quickly as possible and be used for its intended purpose. The installation is expected to be fully completed in the summer months at the earliest.