Is Glasgow really that dirty?

Question

Here is the background to my question, and it may fuel the old rivalry between Scotland's 2 biggest cities....

I lived in Edinburgh for a year, it was good, the town centre was a pleasant place to go and the surrounding areas were well kept - I know this because the local council depot had street cleaners in and out from 6 in the morning.... however Edinburgh looked nice on first appearances with this hard work.

Now I have moved to Glasgow, and all I can think is how dirty the streets are, in fact, you have to remind yourself to stop looking at the dirt as you walk along. So my question is, does Glasgow council really want to portray the impression that Glaswegians love to live in such a dirty city? A road sweeper down each street, say once a year might not come amiss to be honest.

To help you answer here are a couple of quotes from the council websites:

Glasgow council website says:
"Although the Council provides litter bins at various points throughout the City it is up to each individual to be responsible for their own litter." - if it is dirty it is the people who live here who have to go out their way to sweep the streets

Edinburgh Council website:
"Street Cleaning services in the city operate seven days a week 24 hours a day in the city centre. If you have any complaints or enquiries please contact Services for Communities or Rapid Response." - if I see that it is dirty, a rapid response team will come and clean up!

Wonder why I got the impression that Glasgow is a dirty city!

Anyway, what is your impression, is Glasgow really a dirty city? 



(I'm not suggesting that Glaswegians throw their litter in the street, however litter can get there - things falling off trucks, paper blown out of litter bins, and so on, without people dumping it)

peek · Accepted Answer

Yes and no. Because Embra is a major tourist attraction the city cooncil spends more time'n'money keeping the streets clean and free from graffiti. That doesn't mean the people have any less of a penchant for just dumping a McDonalds wrapper at their ****, just the cooncil tidies it up quicker to give tourists a better impression.

Italie2001 · Answer

I dont actually think it's any worse than any other city I've been in.  The fact that you quote a section from the Glasgow Council website which doesn't specifically include street sweeping doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.  I'm almost run over by those wee hoover machines on a daily basis so, trust me, they are out there constantly!  

I very much doubt if you called Edinburgh City Council to advise of a discarded McDonalds wrapper that they'd be there in a shot and, yes, the Glasgow website is correct, it is every individuals responsibility to discard their litter appropriately.  Perhaps Edinburgh need 24 hour cleaners as it's inhabitants litter more readily!?

♥ caroline ♥ · Answer

I have been to both Glasgow and Edinburgh and I would say that both cities are as bad as each other for dirty streets. The council do their best to keep the place clean, but at the end of the day, it's the people who are the litter bugs and throw rubbish around, without even thinking twice about it, or waiting till they can find a bin to put it in.

Dizzybyname · Answer

Well, you could say I'm neutral as I dont live in either of these places, but I do go shopping a lot in Glasgow as its closer, and believe me! those street cleaning machines are everywhere. As in every big city in the UK there are the good bits - and the bad!

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I_luv_cookies! · Answer

Stop looking at the ground and you might discover what a beautiful city Glasgow is.

Cal · Answer

Glasgow city centre is a great place to be , there is hundreds of amazing shops, on buchanan street, sauchiehall street, argyle street and there is also the st. enoch centre and buchanan galleries

Andrew H · Answer

I have lived in both Edinburgh and Glasgow and neither is cleaner or dirtier than the other.

Anonymous · Answer

Labour run Glasgow Council. That is all.

http://glasgowunihumanrights.blogspot.com/2010/03/glasgow-labour-party-legacy-govanhill.html
http://glasgowunihumanrights.blogspot.com/2010/03/judgement-day-at-glasgow-city-council.html
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com/2010/03/uk-labour-partys-steven-purcell-and.html

Anonymous · Answer

Yess the place is trully very dirty!!

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Is Glasgow really that dirty?

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