THE SNP Government’s ex-business champion has hit out at the sorry state of one of Scotland’s most famous streets.
Mark Logan – ministers’ Chief Entrepreneurial Advisor until the end of 2024 – blasted the “torturous decline” of Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street and branded it the “saddest of city streets”.
Mark Logan has hit out over the state of Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow[/caption]
The once bustling shopping street is lined with closed down and boarded up stores[/caption]
Sauchiehall Street has also been blighted by graffiti[/caption]
Regeneration works in the street have been hit with a series of delays[/caption]
And he said its dire condition underline’s Scotland’s “complacency” about its assets and a “failure” to grasp “economic potential”.
The city centre thoroughfare was previously renowned for shopping and entertainment, but has fallen into disrepair – with council bosses now bidding to regenerate the area.
Locals have complained of scores of boarded-up shops, graffiti, delayed revamp works, and the 2018 Glasgow School of Art fire, which gutted the iconic O2 Academy, have blighted the area.
In a blog post, Mr Logan said: “Sauchiehall Street, recently the saddest of city streets, is the corridor along which the cluster’s educational institutions are located.
“Its torturous decline and blight are an emblem both of our complacency towards such precious creative assets as the city possesses, and of our failure to appreciate their economic potential.
“I doubt that we’d tolerate a street as haggard at the heart of a shiny tech cluster within the alpha cities of London or Edinburgh.”
The businessman – also a computing science professor at Glasgow University – called for greater efforts to harness the “supercluster” of creative expertise in the Sauchiehall Street area to boost economic growth.
He said that establishing a “critical mass of talent” with world-class institutions, such as The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Glasgow School of Art, can attract more knowledge and investment.
Scottish Conservative MSP for Glasgow, Annie Wells, said: “Even former SNP advisers are appalled by their party overseeing the continued shocking decline of Sauchiehall Street.
“The SNP have been missing in action while this iconic location has been left looking like a building site.
“Ahead of the Commonwealth Games, its time for the SNP to focus on Glasgow’s real priorities rather than obsessing over fringe issues.”
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: “I think Glasgow is the best city in the world, but we can all see that it is declining under the SNP’s watch.
“The sorry state of Sauchiehall Street is a symbol of how badly the SNP is failing our fantastic city.
“From shuttered shops caused by the SNP’s economic mismanagement to overflowing bins caused by years of cuts to Council budgets, the SNP’s incompetence is plain to see.
“As Scottish high streets struggle, the SNP government’s decision not to pass on rates relief to Scottish retail businesses adds insult to injury.
“A Scottish Labour government would breathe fresh life into Scotland’s city centres by driving forward regional economic growth, overhauling business rates to redress the balance between high street businesses and online giants, and guaranteeing fair funding for local government.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Mid Dunbartonshire, Susan Murray, said: “Glasgow is an economic powerhouse, but it’s been undermined by years of SNP and Conservative neglect.
“The Scottish Government need to deliver. That starts by recognising the huge role that Glasgow plays in our economy.”
In recent years, Sauchiehall Street has been plagued by an exodus of big-name stores, including M&S, Deichmann, BHS, Watt Brothers, and Holland & Barrett.
Plans for a £5.6million revamp of the decaying high street have also been rocked by a series of setbacks.
Upgrading works were due to be completed by Christmas but Glasgow City Council later said it wouldn’t be finished until this month.
In January, it emerged Sauchiehall Street had been tipped to be named Scotland’s ugliest place at the Carbuncle Awards, which names and shames the country’s biggest eyesores.
A Glasgow City Council spokesperson said: “We are very aware of the opportunities that the cultural cluster in the city centre on and close to Sauchiehall Street offer in both the regeneration of the area and attracting further investment, and as a result – as was announced almost a year ago – we are working with the National Heritage Lottery Fund and Glasgow Life to maximise the many benefits to the city centre and the institutions themselves that this cluster presents.
“Sauchiehall Street faced unique challenges with a number of fires, the impact of the pandemic and the rise of online shopping, but the ongoing work to improve the public realm there – work which lays the foundations for the street’s future by making it a more attractive place in which to visit and invest, ensuring more development can take place – is almost complete, and investment in sites such as the former Marks & Spencer store shows the confidence that developers have in this part of the city centre as it adapts to significant change.
“It should be remembered that an estimated 50 million visitors came into Glasgow city centre in 2024, and the continued popularity of the attractions on and close to Sauchiehall Street contributed to that.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We are committed to ensuring Scotland is one of the best places to do business. That is why our Budget provides a package of non-domestic rates reliefs worth an estimated £731million, including the Small Business Bonus Scheme which continues to be the most generous of its kind in the UK.
“Our Budget also freezes the Basic Property Rate, ensuring that over 95% of non-domestic properties continue to be liable for a lower rate than elsewhere in the UK.”
Mr Logan was brought into the Scottish Government in 2020 to review the digital economy, first as an advisor on tech.
He was then Chief Entrepreneurial Advisor from 2022 to October 2024.
