Location, Location, Location

Clyde Gateway is a very convenient and easy-to access location.

The historic Glasgow Cross, at one time the very centre of the city, is just one mile to the western edge of the Clyde Gateway boundary.

Glasgow with a population of just under 600,000 is the commercial capital of Scotland and the UK's largest retail centre after London. It is also one of Europe's top 20 financial centres, and home to many of Scotland's leading businesses.

Part of Rutherglen lies within the south-east corner of Clyde Gateway, a town which is in fact 500 years older than Glasgow. Rutherglen is Scotland's oldest Royal Burgh with a charter dating back to 1126 when it was an important fishing village on the banks of the river.

The town also was a centre of heavy industry, with coal mines and a chemicals factory providing many jobs to local residents. Nowadays it is home to 25,000 people, many of whom commute to and from Glasgow.

Clyde Gateway enjoys excellent public transport infrastructure. There are three railway stations at Bridgeton, Dalmarnock and Rutherglen, with up to six trains an hour in and out of Glasgow Central station. It is also well served by buses, including some services which operate 24 hours around the clock.

The M8 Motorway, the main route between Glasgow and Edinburgh, is situated just 2 miles north of Clyde Gateway.

And, as has been highlighted elsewhere, the extension of the M74 - Scotland's main road south to England - will go through Clyde Gateway.

The aim of Clyde Gateway is to build on these advantages of location, location, location and make the area a truly special place to live, work, and play.

Employment and Jobs

Clyde Gateway was once the workshop of the Empire, populated by skilled local workers in mills, textiles, iron works and heavy engineering factories.

For almost 100 years, from 1879 to 1975, Beardmore's in Parkhead was one of the biggest steel works in Europe, employing 30,000 people at its peak.

Templeton Carpets in Bridgeton opened in 1839, with as many as 3,000 people on its books at any one time. It closed in 1979.

Arrol's engineers at one time gave work to 4,000 people in Dalmarnock, but it closed in 1986.

All of these big employers were supported by many other smaller businesses and suppliers.

Now there is no single large-scale employer, but there are an estimated 920 small and medium firms, businesses and retailers located in the area, most of whom employ, on average between 5 and 25 people. However, many of these jobs are held by people who live elsewhere other than Clyde Gateway.

The communities have higher than average unemployment rates. The people living here tend to have lower than average qualification levels and a lack of skills for many of the jobs on offer in Glasgow and the West of Scotland.

Clyde Gateway has set a target of 21,000 jobs over two decades.

No-one is promising a return to the days of large manufacturing factories employing thousands of men and women under one roof.

Yes, we will work hard to try and attract a new manufacturing plant, but our main targets are jobs in construction, offices, leisure and recreation activities, hotels and tourism, retail, financial services and the new and emerging industries of the 21st Century.

Clyde Gateway, working alongside existing organisations such as Glasgow East Regeneration Agency (GERA), and Routes To Work South will help equip and train local residents to grab these emerging job opportunities. We will be funding dedicated apprentice schemes for local residents, young and old alike, in both traditional trades such as plumbing, joinery and bricklaying, as well as newer industries such as sports management and hospitality.

All jobs and training opportunities supported by Clyde Gateway will be advertised locally, with details also made available on this website.