In the first of three blogs, local writer Cam Procter heads out into Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park to see what cycling microadventures the wilderness has to offer. 

When it comes to active travel and getting around, National Cycle Routes 7 and 75 are indispensable paths that link Renfrewshire with other key locations around the Clyde. They also make for great days out on their own. However, these paths also are handy for getting to and from adventures that take you a little more off-the-beaten-track.

One such adventure, starting in Paisley, begins by following NCR 75 out towards Kilmacolm. About a mile after Bridge of Weir, a sign directs you away from the National Cycle Network and down towards Quarriers Village, which was originally built, in 1876, to serve as a large orphanage.

Once through the village, you’ll follow a series of small, unnamed country roads towards the eastern foothills of Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park. Although this section is on-road, these roads don’t see much motor traffic, so you can sit back and really appreciate the scenery around here!

Once you reach the boundary of the regional park, the asphalt gives way to a gravel track that leads up into the hills. There’s quite a big hill to climb here, and this section may be tricky, especially on tyres that don’t have much tread or grip. The path is well-defined in most places but can sometimes be difficult to follow in the open hill; these sections also tend to be quite boggy, which can make for challenging riding.

You’ll follow this path south until you pass Windy Hill. The summit of this hill can be reached by making a short diversion, but this is a popular walking route, so remember to take care here!

Having passed Windy Hill, you’ll come to the Muirshiel Visitor Centre. Here, the asphalt returns, and this road makes for a very enjoyable descent into Lochwinnoch. The road takes you past the impressive Calder Mill Waterfall before joining on with NCR 7 to head back towards Paisley.

At just over 30 miles, this route can be done in a few hours, but it can also make for a great overnighter. Although Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park is often exposed to the elements and can be boggy in places, it can be an ideal place to pitch a tent in the summer months! Why not bring the tent along and head out for a midweek 5-9 adventure?

Remember to follow the Outdoor Access Code and leave no trace!

Tip: Those looking for a shorter adventure can finish at Lochwinnoch station, where a 13-minute train can deliver you back to Paisley Gilmour Street.

Route notes:

Distance (from Gilmour St. Station): 32 miles / 51.5 kilometres

Time: Allow 4-6 hours in good weather, including pitstops and snack breaks

Terrain: A mix of paved surfaces, gravel, and unpaved trails; traffic and traffic-free sections

Special kit: For unpaved/gravel sections, wider tyres with tread are recommended

Highlights: Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park, Calder Mill Waterfall

We’ve been telling you all about the many ways you can have a great day out in Renfrewshire.

Now our friends Louis and Hannah would like to share some of the favourite places they enjoy exploring in their local area – and they think you would too.

They’ll tell you about where they like to visit in Bridge of Weir and some key sights to take in.

Read their stories below:   

Louis’ Great Day Out

“I think Bridge of Weir is a lovely place to go for a walk. Actually, there’s loads of different walks you can do and during lockdown, when we could only go out to exercise once a day, I was glad we could walk around such a nice place. Also, my stepdad Andy grew up in Bridge of Weir and when we are walking around, he tells us lots of funny stories from when he was a kid and we can see the places where they happened.  

“Walking through The Glen is nice. It’s got a cool waterfall and then you come out at the top where there is a park and lots of space to kick a ball about.  

Louis and Hannah at the waterfall

“I also like the wee ruins that used to be a castle – that must have been a long time ago, because there doesn’t seem to be much left! But it’s cool to stand inside and imagine what it used to be like.  

“There is also a big bridge that you can walk over the river. It’s on the cycle path and it’s a really nice view.”  

Louis and Hannah at the viaduct

Hannah’s Great Day Out

“I love going for peaceful walks where there are lots of trees and I can hear the sound of stones under my feet and the birds chirping. I love the wee glen in Bridge of Weir because there is even a waterfall. It’s such a nice place and it smells so fresh! 

“After the glen we go to the playpark that is beside it. My favourite thing is to go on the swings and jump off.

Hannah enjoys the swings at the play park

“Then I love going up to the secret castle. It’s hidden in the forest and it’s like a special wee place that only some people can find. It’s amazing!

“I also love the big bridge where we I can look over at the river. It’s a good place to stop for a rest if you are going on a big walk or out cycling.” 

Hannah at the ‘secret’ Ranfurly Castle

There’s nothing better than chips on the road home after a night out – and broadcaster Nicola Meighan rounds off her adventure in Paisley with a visit to legendary chip shop Castelvecchi, owned by the family of a certain Paolo Nutini.

Here, Nicola looks at the singer-songwriter’s rise to hero status in his hometown.

In 2006, a Paisley singer-songwriter released his debut single. The song was called ‘Last Request’, the artist was Paolo Nutini, and along with putting his name on the map, it drew attention to another beloved Paisley landmark: Castelvecchi, his family’s legendary chip shop, where the pop star worked shifts in his teens.

It’s a warm, nostalgic gem of a place – minutes on foot from Paisley Gilmour Street train station in the town centre – with a friendly welcome, superb fish and chips (extensive research was undertaken), and walls bedecked with café memorabilia, including an old-school pinball machine. And, often, Paolo’s charming dad behind the counter.

Nutini’s apprenticeship wasn’t just served in Castelvecchi: as a youngster, he attended Paisley’s PACE Youth Theatre, whose alumni also includes actors Richard Madden and James McAvoy and singer-songwriter David Sneddon, who has latterly written for Will Young, Olly Murs and Lana Del Rey.

Sneddon won reality TV competition Fame Academy in 2002, but he wasn’t the first performer from Paisley to top the UK charts on the back of a telly talent show: that accolade went to Kelly Marie, who appeared on Opportunity Knocks in the mid-70s, and subsequently had a disco smash with a track written by Ray Dorset from Mungo Jerry which was originally intended for Elvis Presley: the hurtling ‘Feels Like I’m In Love’.

In 2003, Paisley Town Hall hosted a homecoming gala for Sneddon, in the wake of his win and chart success. But legend has it that he was late, and the crowd were getting restless, so a hip young gunslinger jumped on the stage and grabbed the mic, and swaggered into the spotlight. It was Paolo Nutini. He worked wonders. The man who’d become his manager was in the crowd.

Three years later, Nutini’s soul-wracked, instant-classic debut album, These Streets, scaled the UK charts. Among its myriad charms, and hits like ‘New Shoes’ and ‘Jenny Don’t Be Hasty’, were various Paisley signposts and memories – from the title track’s nod to Glenfield Road to the record’s swansong, ‘Alloway Grove’.

Nutini’s follow-up LPs – 2009’s Sunny Side Up and 2014’s Caustic Love – were both UK Number One hits, giving rise to favourites like ‘Pencil Full of Lead’, ‘Coming Up Easy’ and ‘Let Me Down Easy’, and bagging him a prestigious Ivor Novello songwriting award along the way.

He’s played several thrilling hometown shows since, including an impromptu karaoke session in Paisley’s Harvies Bar in 2019, where he belted out Elton John’s ‘Your Song’ with a party crowd – the footage is online, and joyous – and a roof-raising concert at Paisley Abbey in 2017.

Nutini played lots of hits and favourites at that Paisley Abbey show, but he also performed an outstanding version of a song that’s become an unofficial anthem for the town, and he paid tribute to its writer, the local 18th Century weaver poet Robert Tannahill, whose Braes of Balquidder evolved into the much-loved (and much-performed) ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’.

All of the crowd sang along that night – a resounding, roof-raising celebration of Paisley’s architecture, history, poetry, music, awesome chips and brilliant songs. And we’ll all go together.

Nicola Meighan is a music and arts journalist and broadcaster (The Herald, STV, BBC Scotland). She presents the Afternoon Show on BBC Radio Scotland, every Friday, 2-4pm.

Find out more about Paisley’s rich music story with our film below.

Broadcaster Nicola Meighan visits The Bungalow venue and traced its legacy back to Paisley’s punk explosion, and counter-cultural legacy – via Pam Hogg, Groucho Marxist records and more!

Punk might have been fired up by anarchy and sticking it to The Man, but we’ve got Glasgow’s last bastion of bureaucracy – the City Council – to thank for the DIY rock revolution that galvanised Paisley in the mid-late 1970s and beyond.

Panicked by a blaze of media hysteria – and some legendary rammies in local venues – Glasgow councillors effectively (if unofficially) prohibited punk gigs after a Stranglers concert at the City Halls in 1977, so bands – and fans – had to find an alternative stomping ground.

Taking punk’s touchstones of innovation, activism, and doing-it-yourself, promoters started booking Paisley gigs for bands who’d usually be Glasgow-bound, largely at the Silver Thread hotel (thanks to the righteously-named Disco Harry) and The Bungalow Bar, whose booker, Loudon Temple, has written a fab history of the local punk explosion.

Between them, they welcomed Elvis Costello, Buzzcocks, Paul Young’s Q-Tips, the Boomtown Rats, Echo and the Bunnymen, Orange Juice, Aztec Camera and countless others to the town, its bars, its stages and dance-floors – and offered a wealth of inspiration (and coveted support slots) for local music fans and bands.

It galvanised a grassroots scene that included Paisley upstarts Fire Exit, The Zips, XS Discharge, Liberty Bodice, The Sneex, The Fegs, Mentol Errors, Defiant Pose and more. Some of these acts released music on Paisley music co-operative / label Groucho Marxist records, which was helmed by Tommy Kayes via the local Socialist Workers’ Party and the TUC Club in Orr Square, which also gave rise to the town’s Rock Against Racism chapter, which held festivals in Ferguslie Park.

Record shops like Stereo One, The Record Market and Listen were also instrumental to supporting its music scene – as was one of Bruce Findlay’s legendary music joints: fans were ferried to Paisley from the city on buses that left from outside one of Bruce’s Records in Glasgow.

Punk, of course, extended way beyond music, and another Paisley counter-cultural legend would upturn the fashion landscape with her iconoclastic vision. Pam Hogg’s sonic adventures included late-‘70s band Rubbish (who often played with The Pogues), ‘80s Acid House outfit Garden of Eden, and ‘90s alternative rock act Doll (who supported Blondie among others), but she’s best known as one of the world’s most celebrated designers. Her punk-inspired outfits have been worn by Debbie Harry, Siouxsie Sioux, Kylie Minogue, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Bjork and many more since the 1980s.

Paisley’s underground revolution thrived throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s too, thanks to pioneering artists like Drew McDowall (who played with Psychic TV and Coil, and formed the Poems with a pre-Strawberry Swtichblade Rose McDowall), indie-pop favourites the Close Lobsters, and cult-pop renaissance man Momus – not to mention a burgeoning rave scene thanks to Club 69, and record shops like The Record Factory and Apollo Music (which became Feel The Groove…)

These days, the Silver Thread’s a fond memory, and The Bungalow’s moved house – from its original Renfrew Road location to the town’s more central Shuttle Street. It may have changed addresses, but its spirit of nurturing upcoming voices, fresh sounds and rising stars prevails, with recent events including the Scottish Alternative Music Awards’ Paisley Takeover.

The town’s new sounds are as vibrant, eclectic and inventive as ever, thanks to students at the University of the West of Scotland, and acts like art-pop harmonists The Vegan Leather, rapper Washington, and jazz livewire Kitti. The beat goes on.

Nicola Meighan is a music and arts journalist and broadcaster (The Herald, STV, BBC Scotland). She presents the Afternoon Show on BBC Radio Scotland, every Friday, 2-4pm.

Journalist and broadcaster Nicola Meighan visits Brown’s Lane and the Gerry Rafferty mural to reflect on the singer’s Paisley roots and his timeless resonance in the town.

Way down the street, there’s a light in his place. Gerry Rafferty was born round here, in Underwood Lane – an address that’s set to become the title of a John Byrne play written in memory of the man and his work.

In the meantime, you can stumble upon him a few roads yonder – illuminated and larger-than-life – on the gable-end of a tenement in Brown’s Lane, thanks to Danny McDermott’s mural tribute to one of Paisley’s most distinctive, best-loved and sorely-missed voices.

The son of Mary Skeffington (immortalised in his song of the same name), Gerry Rafferty wove a folk, pop and rock ‘n’ roll tapestry that charted – among other things – a collaboration with Billy Connolly in ‘60s banjo cads the Humblebums; a ‘70s union with with fellow Paisley buddy Joe Egan in folk-rock harmonists Stealers Wheel (whose songs included the timeless Hollywood favourite, ‘Stuck In The Middle With You’); and a hugely successful solo career that included hits like ‘Baker Street’, ‘Get It Right Next Time’, ‘Night Owl’, ‘City to City’ and ‘Right Down The Line’.

He also contributed vocals to Mark Knopfler’s hugely successful Local Hero soundtrack (‘The Way It Always Starts’), and produced The Proclaimers’ breakthrough hit, ‘Letter From America’.

Six decades since leaving St Mirin’s Academy – since his early days writing songs, playing music and busking – Rafferty remains a beacon in Paisley’s vibrant folk and songwriting tradition that also counts legends like folk champion Danny Kyle, Scots tearaways the Tannahill Weavers, and country / blues / pop treasure Carol Laula among its number.

We lost Gerry Rafferty in 2011, but his voice and songs continue to ring out across the town, and over the world. Paisley has hosted various tributes to him over the years, including the Bring It All Back Home series of concerts in 2014 – which starred Rafferty’s daughter, Martha, and long-term friends and collaborators Barbara Dickson and Rab Noakes, among others – and 2017’s mass saxophone rendition of Baker Street, as part of Paisley’s 2021 City of Culture bid, to mark what would have been his 70th birthday.

Throughout his musical life, another Paisley comrade – the artist, playwright and renaissance man John Byrne (Cuttin’ A Rug, Tutti Frutti, The Slab Boys, the forthcoming Underwood Lane) – visually brought Rafferty’s music to life, thanks to a series of striking record covers, ranging from from early Humblebums releases to Rafferty’s 2021 posthumous album, Rest In Blue.

Among that latter record’s gorgeous songs is a version of ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’, which crackles with Rafferty’s heartening, heartbreaking voice, and traces its roots back to Paisley’s original weaver poet, Robert Tannahill, whose 18th Century work, ‘The Braes of Balquhither’, evolved into ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’.

You can visit Robert Tannahill’s statue outside Paisley Town Hall; you can wander up to the Rafferty mural, round the corner from the Bungalow Bar; you can even make your way to Gerry Rafferty Drive. Their words, their songs, their ideas and images light up these streets. Will ye go, lassie, go?

Nicola Meighan is a music and arts journalist and broadcaster (The Herald, STV, BBC Scotland). She presents the Afternoon Show on BBC Radio Scotland, every Friday, 2-4pm. 

In the first of her series of fantastic blogs for Paisley.is, Nicola Meighan takes a look at the music history and heritage of the iconic Paisley Abbey.

In 2019, Paisley musician Michael Cassidy’s career went down the drain. Ordinarily, such a statement – and direction – would be a cause for concern, but in Cassidy’s case, he was celebrating a rich tradition of underground and enduring sounds that have shaken up the town’s identity and culture for centuries – from archaic subterranean tunes to folk rebellions, punk uprisings, and pop surprises.

An acclaimed singer-songwriter, whose star is soundly on the rise, Cassidy was involved in a project to breathe new life into one of Paisley’s most fascinating landmarks. It involved the town’s striking 12th Century Abbey, a subsequently-built medieval drain, and an archaeological dig that uncovered its ancient treasures.

The underground passageway held myriad hidden secrets, including a slate inscribed with a love poem – which is fitting for such a lyrical town – and another etched with a fragment of music, dated to the mid-15th Century.

It’s considered to be the oldest surviving example of polyphonic music in Scotland, and hundreds of years later, in 2019, Michael Cassidy was tasked with reinterpreting the fragment, which inspired a new song, ‘Colour the Darkness’. He was quoted at the time as saying that the lyrics reflected on the mystery of the drain, how it had gone unnoticed for years in the darkness, and that finding out more about what’s underground has added colour to our knowledge of Paisley.

Cassidy connects his home town’s historic legacy with its industrious and innovative spirit. He received the inaugural Gerry Rafferty Prize for songwriting in 2012, and his father, John, was a founder member of Paisley ‘70s trad-folk trailblazers the Tannahill Weavers. They named themselves in tribute to the town’s original 18th Century weaver poet, Robert Tannahill, whose statue stands proud outside Paisley Town Hall.

He also carries this heritage forward, and in addition to the Paisley drain project, Michael Cassidy has worked with local communities and young songwriters, using the town’s fertile past as a jumping-off point for new voices and songs.

The Abbey, too, rings out with new and original music in the 21st Century. Alongside a programme of classical and choral events, it’s been the backdrop (and centrepiece) for incredible performances from artists like Paolo Nutini, Frightened Rabbit, The Twilight Sad, Idlewild, Roddy Hart, Del Amitri’s Justin Currie and King Creosote, often joining forces with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra as part of the Spree festival.

It’s become a landmark venue on the Scottish music map, alongside Paisley’s nearby Town Hall, which hosted three years of the Scottish Album of the Year Award, and the new incarnation of the Bungalow Bar, a few streets away, which offers upcoming talent a stage, and local music fans a world of world of adventure that can be traced back in time – through pop, punk, folk and poetry, to a hidden drain, to Paisley Abbey, to its space, and light, and dark, and voices: to the sound of the past, the future, the underground.

Nicola Meighan is a music and arts journalist and broadcaster (The Herald, STV, BBC Scotland). She presents the Afternoon Show on BBC Radio Scotland, every Friday, 2-4pm. 

Paisley Is Calling – discover a genuine & authentic experience, that might be more than you expected.

There is more to Paisley than you might think. From an incredible skyline featuring stunning architecture to remarkable stories; authentic makers to surprising adventurers and genuinely welcoming hosts. Let us surprise and delight you with our beautiful town, it’s rich history, and with just how much there is to explore.

Sma’ Shot Cottages volunteer and Dress and Textile Historian Lucy McConnell discusses the Old Paisley Society’s recent collaboration with Vevar to produce the Sma’ Shot Scarf.

“…keep an eye on Paisley.”

Disraeli, B., 1880, Endymion, p.322, ch.64

Vevar, an old Scots spelling of weaver, is Glasgow’s newest weaving mill, established by award winning designers Chantal Allen and Christopher McEvoy in 2020. With over 20 years’ experience of design and manufacture between them, it was an exciting prospect for all at the Sma’ Shot Cottages to collaborate with such innovative and exciting designers and craftspeople.

Christopher employs the history of Scottish textiles within his work, drawing on his familial connection with the textile industries in Paisley and The Calton, historic influences which have seen Christopher produce pieces for fashion houses including Alexander McQueen and Charles Jeffery’s Loverboy. Working as a teacher and weave technician at the Glasgow School of Art, Chantal’s innovative and colourful designs have enabled her to travel to India, where she designed and developed Jacquard woven fabrics for the European and American markets.

The Old Paisley Society were approached by Chantal and Christopher last year, with their idea of producing a limited edition, hand-woven scarf inspired by the collections of the Sma’ Shot Cottages which would be sold to raise funds to aid our work in preserving Paisley’s textile past.

The Sma’ Shot Cottages were opened by the Old Paisley Society in 1985. Volunteer owned and run, the Cottages’ complex explores two distinct periods in Paisley’s textile past, through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The original Paisley weaver’s cottage, built in the 1750s on Shuttle Street, was first occupied by weaver David Lawson and his family. Shuttle street was populated, almost solely, by those involved in the textile trades through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Initially built to house weavers and their loom shops, Shuttle Street soon came to accommodate winders, sewers, pattern setters, washers, starchers, silk finishers and even a shoemaker.

In working with Vevar to create a unique scarf celebrating the textiles of Paisley, Chantal and Christopher were able to visit the Cottages, immersing themselves in the history of the Paisley weaver. The collections of the Cottages are vast, and would prove to offer immeasurable design inspiration. Artefacts including original nineteenth century Paisley shawls and quilts made up of nineteenth century fabrics including Turkey Red were used to inform the design of the Sma’ Shot Scarf, and can be seen in the inclusion of Paisley pines in a distinct madder red making up the scarf’s border.

Both Chantal and Christopher have won several awards for their work, and have established their own brands, named Warped Textiles and McEvoy Textiles. Through Vevar, Chantal and Christopher’s shared passion for Scottish textiles is proving to celebrate the history of textiles in Scotland while also preserving the craft of weaving for future generations.

Lucy McConnell

Dress and Textile Historian
PhD Candidate, University of Huddersfield

MLitt  BA(Hons)  QAVS

In the latest in our series of Mill Mag x Paisley.is articles, Mill Magazine takes a look at Paisley’s unexpected ties to Trainspotting.

When you think of Scotland’s most enduring contributions to the arts, it’s generally split between the classical and the contemporary. Steeped in tradition and the ambiance of a rurally minded, romanticised Scotland that’s been lost to time, the poetic works of Robert Burns, Walter Scott and our own Robert Tannahill have withstood generations of new eyes and are celebrated the world over. In music, our folk heritage has instilled a wistful melody in the planet’s collective consciousness before artists ranging from Texas to Primal Scream and Biffy Clyro proved that we weren’t constrained to the ceilidh.

Yet when it comes to the nation’s greatest exports of the 20^th century, one of Scotland’s crowning achievements not only abandoned much of the country’s wider cultural heritage, but seemed to actively hold it in contempt. First published in 1993, Trainspotting was an instant phenomenon that exposed a labyrinthine version of Leith defined by drugs, small-time schemes and a deep love of Iggy Pop. For its author Irvine Welsh, the debut novel’s appeal was expected on some level, but the scope has left him taken aback ever since.

“I thought it would become a cult book but not generation-defining, which is what other people have called it since”, he told The Guardian in 2018. “It’s strange, but it has taken on such a life of its own that when I see it on a shelf in a bookshop, it almost feels like someone else wrote it.”

Defined by its unflinching gallows humour and gritty depictions of life as an addict, this classic book intercepted the canon of Scotland’s finest works through the lens of a more deprived, less gilded version of the capital city. But while it may have taken place among the east coast’s ever-expanding urban sprawl, Irvine Welsh’s most universally beloved brainchild actually has inextricable ties to our own hometown of Paisley.

Despite taking place across Edinburgh and London, Welsh’s magnum opus establishes its relationship with Renfrewshire from its very opening salvo. Split across seven riveting sections including the introductory ‘Kicking’, the chaotic ‘Blowing It’ and the parting words of ‘Exit’, the first chapter of the entire book is snappily entitled “The Skag Boys, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Mother Superior.”

What’s the significance of this, you ask? Well, both this opening chapter and Trainspotting’s 2012 prequel cribs its name directly from Ferguslie’s finest export.

“There is a play called “The Slab Boys” by a great Scottish playwright called John Byrne”, Welsh informed CNN’s Payal Uttam in 2011. “I decided to call it ‘”Skagboys” as a parody of that.”

Set in the 1950’s and at the height of industrialisation, Byrne’s iconic trilogy — which commenced with the self-titled offering in 1978 — chronicles the lives and misadventures of Phil, ‘Spanky’ and Hector as they attempt to escape the slab room of Paisley’s A.F. Stobo & Co in search of a better life. While there are stark differences in the stakes and tone, both Trainspotting and Byrne’s theatrical masterwork chronicle the working-class experience with levity and an unstifled hopefulness that refuses to be overshadowed by some of its darker elements. On top of that, the use of colloquial language, slang and those rhythmic speaking patterns that can only be found in ungentrified circles is used to ground the reader or viewer in the atmosphere of their settings.

Where Trainspotting’s opening section made a subtle allusion to Byrne’s influence, ‘Skagboys’ – Welsh’s novel that is set in the preceding years before the events of Trainspotting — takes this one step further by introducing a character from Byrne’s neck of the woods.

While studying at Aberdeen University, the series ‘protagonist’ and occasional moral compass Mark Renton encounters a fellow student by the name of Joanne that is revealed to be from Paisley. Described as a “nosy Weedgie bird, no proper Weedgie, but fae somewhere near thaire”, he later undertakes an interrailing trip with her, his then-lover Fiona and friend ‘Bisto.’

In typically Welsh fashion, things soon devolve from there until later on in the tale, Renton receives a wedding invitation.  After initially upholding an uneasy truce, Joanne and ‘Bisto’ are set to be married at a church in Kilmacolm. As for the reception, Renfrewshire-based readers were soon accosted by the address of a familiar locale for all sorts of joyful occasions.

“Bowfield Hotel and Country Club,

  Bowfield Road, Howwood, near Glasgow Airport, Renfrewshire, PA9 1DB

   RSVP: 115 Crookston Terrace, Paisley, PA1 3PF”

As anyone that’s visited will know, the Bowfield is a million miles removed from the squalid locales that many of Trainspotting’s most harrowing and educatory scenes take place in. Still, it’s remarkable to imagine the motley crew that both Welsh’s novel and the iconic, 1996 film adaptation ingrained into our minds all milling about in the hotel’s function suite.

On the subject of Trainspotting’s big screen adaptation, this legendary film’s creation was aided in part by a Paisley institution that’s familiar with births, deaths and everything in-between. Greenlit by Channel 4 Films and penned by veteran screenwriter John Hodge, the journey to Trainspotting’s production actually starts with the movie that provided the firmament for director Danny Boyle to carve out his illustrious career.

Starring Ewan McGregor — soon to be Renton in Trainspotting — Christopher Eccleston and New Zealand’s Kerry Fox, Boyle and Hodge’s 1994 thriller Shallow Grave has become a cult film in its own right and skyrocketed almost everyone involved to fame. Although that’s likely common knowledge by now, a lesser known fact is that the various scenes that take place in a medical facility were shot at Paisley’s very own Royal Alexandra Hospital. During a 2013 event at New York’s Academy Theatre, Boyle regaled the crowd with a comically morbid anecdote from his time on-set at the RAH.

“That scene at the end in the mortuary, where he gets pushed inside, that’s a real mortuary,” Danny recalled. “Chris Eccleston said ‘I can’t do this, can’t go in there.’ There were dead bodies in there so we had a bit of a crisis. Eventually we agreed that we’d put one of the prop guys in there so that when the door is closed and it goes dark, he wouldn’t be alone. You can hear it in the soundtrack, when the door closes and the lights go off, you can hear this guy going, ‘it’s alright Chris,’ very quietly.”

While this Paisley landmark helped craft the climactic moments of Trainspotting’s soon-to-be director’s first feature, it was Welsh’s classic source material, or more specifically, its stage adaptation, that helped spark the career of one of Paisley’s most recognisable exports.

Born on the 13^th November 1969, the renowned actor Gerard Butler spent both his early years and adolescence in Paisley, even spending a spell as head boy at the now-defunct St Mirin’s Academy. From there, he’d go on to The University of Glasgow’s School of Law. After a period of floundering his way through life that saw him being fired from an Edinburgh law firm just days prior to obtaining his full qualification, things were looking decidedly grim for the young Butler.

However, it’d soon transpire that the seeds sown by witnessing Welsh’s Trainspotting come to life on-stage would not only be a formative experience that reignited the desire to act within the former Scottish Youth Theatre student, but a role that he felt he could embody with ease. After betting on himself and moving down to London with little in-roads to the entertainment world, Gerard depicted himself at this stage as a “kid who turns up, drinking like a fish, trying to get sober. And deciding I want to be an actor.”

Thankfully for Gerard, his natural aptitude for the dramatic arts and the experiences he’d had in his life meant that the transition was a relatively seamless one. After he’d began to find his feet within the craft, Gerard soon find himself assuming the very role that’d first piqued his interest.

“And within a year, I was back playing Renton on the same stage [where] I had watched the play a year before, at the Edinburgh Festival, a week before I was fired”, he told The Scotsman. “I swear to you on my life, I had watched the guy [in the Renton role] and said, ‘I know I can do this, and it’s breaking my heart.’”

Eventually giving way to a UK & Ireland tour throughout 1996, his portrayal of the misguided youth would account for his first attempt at the sort of multi-layered leading man role that he’d eventually become acquainted with in both lavish Hollywood epics and indie films alike.

In 2018, he and fellow actor Cameron Jack—who portrayed the imposing and psychopathic Begbie in the same adaptation, would reunite for a photo and celebrate how far they’d came from those heady days.

Left transfixed and motivated by what he’d seen at the Edinburgh festival, it’s no exaggeration to say that without the Harry Gibson adaptation of Welsh’s famous work, Paisley’s most renowned thespian may have never trodden the boards or appeared on-camera at all.

As the years have ticked by, Trainspotting’s legacy and cultural importance has continued to grow. In turn, ensuring that both the book and its filmic counterpart have came to represent two of the most seminal pieces of art to emerge from the 90’s. With its reputation continuing to expand and Welsh penning various sequels and offshoots, the idea of a sequel was banded about—and routinely swatted down—for many years. Arriving 20 years on from the initial adventures of Renton, Spud, Sick Boy and Begbie, 2016’s T2: Trainspotting treated audiences to a window into how these characters had grown in the intervening years. And in most cases, proved that the wounds from those early years had yet to heal.

In keeping with tradition, the hotly anticipated sequel couldn’t come to fruition without some tie to our town. This time around, the link would come in the form of the character simply known as ‘Big Bear.’

Best known for his roles in River City, Only An Excuse and Still Game, not to mention his renown as a musical virtuoso, Paisley-born Tom Urie found himself on the call sheet for T2. As he informed us in August, the experience of working on the film proved to be a surreal one to say the very least.

“In every period of my career, it feels like something big comes along”, Tom remarked. “T2: Trainspotting was certainly one of those things.

“I was only in that for a minute, but that one scene has become really iconic. They filmed two hours of extra footage for T2 and they weren’t telling anyone what they were using. So, I didn’t know what was going to make it into the film or not and I didn’t know how it was going to go down because I thought ‘oh god (laughs)’. Thankfully, everyone on all sides of the spectrum laughed at it and no-one’s ever given me a hard time about it. I remember seeing it in the cinema and it was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.”

“In every country, you’re going to get divisions”, he said of the scene’s satirical approach to sectarianism. “So, I think wherever anyone’s watching it, they’ll identify with it. Even if they don’t know the ins and outs.”

Rather than being seen as dispensable, Tom beamed about the care and attention with which Trainspotting’s acclaimed director Danny Boyle treated his cast.

“It was unbelievable, it was like nobody else I’ve ever worked with”, Urie enthused. “He knew everybody’s name. There was 200 people and he got to know everyone over those two or three days that we were filming. He came and sat down to have dinner with me, he’d read up on me and had even bought my album off Amazon! He was really, really generous and kind. I was a little bit starstruck because come on, it’s Danny Boyle! But no, he just sat happily and chatted away. He was telling me about all the music that he’d lined up for T2 and he was going on about (Scotland’s own) Young Fathers. It turns out that the guy from Underworld who wrote ‘Born Slippy’ (which soundtracks Trainspotting’s iconic conclusion) had also written the track that you hear in that scene (laughs). So, there’s a little-known fact for you!  Danny didn’t have to do all that. I was only there for four days, but he was an absolute gentleman.”

Heralded the world over as a literary and cinematic landmark, Trainspotting has long since surpassed the streets of Edinburgh in order to infiltrate the hearts, minds and in some cases, nightmares of fans the world over. Yet whether it arises from Welsh’s intense admiration of John Byrne, Danny Boyle’s trip to the RAH or the locally-born actors who’ve had their careers impacted by this seminal tale of wayward youth, this iconic story has impacted on and been impacted by our local community in ways that have went unsung for far too long.