4/4/2008Franz star is slammed over Paddy's move
A TOP Glasgow musician's call to save historic Paddy's Market was today labelled 'patronising.'
Alex Kapranos, lead singer of rockers Franz Ferdinand, has appealed to the city council to change its minds over closing the crime-ridden Glasgow market.
He was joined in his protest by artist Avril Paton who says there is room for both stallholders and arts and crafts.
But today Councillor Gordon Matheson blasted back at the celebrities' intervention.
He said: "Glasgow has moved on but Paddy's Market has gone backwards. That is why the council now feels compelled to take over the lease of Shipbank Lane and the associated arches.
"I like Franz Ferdinand's music and I enjoy Avril Paton's popular paintings but it is patronising to claim that an area with record levels of drug dealing, prostitution, serious assaults and trade in stolen goods and contraband is somehow to be treasured.
"Grime and serious criminality is not part of the working class culture I was brought up in. I can understand the nostalgia some will feel but we cannot allow an image of Paddy's from a previous age to undermine our efforts to move Glasgow forward."
His outburst came after Kapranos, who has been visiting Shipbank Lane since he was a youngster, said "part of Glasgow's soul would be erased" if Paddy's were to go.
He said: "It does have a personality about it that is embraced in other cities. Other cities love their flea markets.
If you think of Paris or Berlin, it’s part of their identity.
"I mean how would London be without Brick Lane? The idea that Glasgow wants to get rid of this and forget about it, I think it's sad."
As reported exclusively in the Evening Times last month, city council bosses want to turn Scotland's oldest market into a high-quality arts and crafts centre which will become a new cultural quarter for the city.
Paddy's was started by Irish immigrants more than 200 years ago and has sold bric-a-bac and secondhand goods and clothes to generations of Glaswegians.
But council officials say the fleamarket is no longer what it used to be and the area has become a haven for drug-related crime and illegal traders.
Stallholders will not have their leases renewed when they expire and most traders are expected to be out of the lane by May.
The final lease on the market is up in autumn when it will be properly cleared before a major revamp of the area begins.
Traders have mounted a campaign to "save their heritage."
Alex Kapranos, lead singer of rockers Franz Ferdinand, has appealed to the city council to change its minds over closing the crime-ridden Glasgow market.
He was joined in his protest by artist Avril Paton who says there is room for both stallholders and arts and crafts.
But today Councillor Gordon Matheson blasted back at the celebrities' intervention.
He said: "Glasgow has moved on but Paddy's Market has gone backwards. That is why the council now feels compelled to take over the lease of Shipbank Lane and the associated arches.
"I like Franz Ferdinand's music and I enjoy Avril Paton's popular paintings but it is patronising to claim that an area with record levels of drug dealing, prostitution, serious assaults and trade in stolen goods and contraband is somehow to be treasured.
"Grime and serious criminality is not part of the working class culture I was brought up in. I can understand the nostalgia some will feel but we cannot allow an image of Paddy's from a previous age to undermine our efforts to move Glasgow forward."
His outburst came after Kapranos, who has been visiting Shipbank Lane since he was a youngster, said "part of Glasgow's soul would be erased" if Paddy's were to go.
He said: "It does have a personality about it that is embraced in other cities. Other cities love their flea markets.
If you think of Paris or Berlin, it’s part of their identity.
"I mean how would London be without Brick Lane? The idea that Glasgow wants to get rid of this and forget about it, I think it's sad."
As reported exclusively in the Evening Times last month, city council bosses want to turn Scotland's oldest market into a high-quality arts and crafts centre which will become a new cultural quarter for the city.
Paddy's was started by Irish immigrants more than 200 years ago and has sold bric-a-bac and secondhand goods and clothes to generations of Glaswegians.
But council officials say the fleamarket is no longer what it used to be and the area has become a haven for drug-related crime and illegal traders.
Stallholders will not have their leases renewed when they expire and most traders are expected to be out of the lane by May.
The final lease on the market is up in autumn when it will be properly cleared before a major revamp of the area begins.
Traders have mounted a campaign to "save their heritage."