A Love Letter to
ELDERSLIE
A resident of Renfrewshire for most of her life, the BBC’s Annie McGuire gave us the lowdown on the village that helped mould her into who she is today and where she’s now settled with her family.
BUTCHERS STEAK & GRILL This is where I had my first ever job aged 17, when it was Brubeck’s Restaurant. It was quite a big deal at the time for Elderslie to have a 48 MILL
restaurant where people could gather, especially on a Saturday night. I loved working in there – despite all the cool jobs I’ve had since then, I don’t think I ever got quite as much job satisfaction as getting through a busy shift in Brubecks. It’s absolutely wonderful to see how it has been reinvented. The boys from the Elderslie Butchers are about as popular as anyone has ever been, there was so much goodwill for them taking on this ambitious venture and it is one of the best places to eat in the West of Scotland. During last year’s big snowfall when the shops were running out of bread and the roads were closed, we were forced to eat here! I’m told the original pub – which I knew as the Cabin Bar – was
so successful because it was allowed to stay open later than Paisley pubs so people would jump on a tram to Elderslie to get a final couple of drinks in. I love the thought of Elderslie as the Las Vegas of Renfrewshire. STODDART’S CARPET FACTORY It’s gone now, but the carpet factory was the industrial buzz inside a sleepy village. My dad worked here as a foreman in dye-works before becoming a teacher and it provided good jobs for local people. The stories of the carpets for the Titanic being made here made you feel like Elderslie was on the map. I was also a huge fan of The Slab Boys trilogy which is set in the factory. That hometown connection really got me
Main photo by Thomas Graham, Digitalpict.com
I
spent the first 26 years of my life in Elderslie, before brief spells in Glasgow, London and then Paisley, eventually moving back to the street I grew up in when I got married. My mum still lives in our childhood home which is now five doors down from me. Some of the neighbours are still the same and I absolutely love walking down the same street I did as a wee girl: the braes at one end and Ben Lomond in the distance at the other – minutes from countryside but also an easy commute into the BBC.
