RECREATION

The "rectitude" of recreational pursuits seems to vary over time. In the early 19th century cock-fighting was acceptable, but no longer. Tollcross YMCA (founded in 1870) arranged acceptable social pursuits for its members but also noted the "Evils of Football" at the turn of the century! Vale of Clyde who play at Fullarton Park were founded a few years after the YMCA, in 1873.

Two bowling clubs in the district are Tollcross and Belvidere. In the 18th century bowling was a gentleman's sport and the Dunlops are said to have had a green in front of the drawing room windows of their mansion. In 1876 moves were made to start a club. The Dunlops were persuaded to donate the site at the corner of London Rd and Causewayside St and Tollcross Bowling Club was opened in 1877. Amongst its earliest opponents was Belvidere Bowling Club which had been founded in 1861.

Although it is certainly not everyone's "cup of tea", the pub is most definitely the focus of social activity for many people and several pubs in Tollcross, as well as in Fullarton, have served their clientele for almost a century. Elder's Bar in Causewayside St, for example, was established in 1894.

For many years the people of Tollcross could indulge the great Glasgow love affair with the movies. The independent proprietors, Green's, who built the largest cinema in Europe - Green's Playhouse - built one of Glasgow's earliest picture houses in Tollcross c.1910 in Wellshot Rd near Tollcross Rd. Sadly, the cinema suffered the fate shared by so many suburban cinemas when the love affair ended in the 1960s.