Glasgow's Kelvin Hall showcased everything from Modern Homes to magnificent motors

Times Past featured the famous venue recently, prompting a flurry of messages from readers eager to share their favourite recollections.

Currently closed, but in non-Covid times home to exhibitions, a health and fitness club and the National Library of Scotland’s moving image archive, the historic building has been a barrage balloon factory during the war, host of the Christmas circus and the carnival and a transport museum since it opened in 1927.

Ian Hutcheson, of Broomhill, recalls some of the Kelvin Hall’s best known showcases, including the Scottish Motor Show and the Modern Homes Exhibition.

“What was there for young boys to get excited about in The Modern Homes Exhibition, with its vast display of dining room furniture, beds and wardrobes, kitchen units, carpets and linoleum, and soft furnishings?” he asks.

“We certainly picked up on our parents’ enthusiasm as they became familiar with the modern world that was forming around them, after the dark days of the war, but what caught our attention were the stalls where new products that would transform our daily lives, were enthusiastically demonstrated.”

The Modern Homes Exhibition at the Kelvin Hall in the 50s. Pic: Herald and Times

Ian adds: “We saw that using a brush to paint walls and ceilings was distinctly old fashioned.

“In the modern world, a roller was the tool to use; so simple and effortless to cover large areas– and we saw a demonstration of an even greater innovation: the vacuum cleaner, which was pushed across a dark carpet, strewn with white pellets, to leave a clear path in its wake.”

The ‘mannequin parade’ was less appealing, he recalls.

“A woman would walk along a platform turn, and walk off. Then another one would come on and do the same and I thought, I would much rather see the magic vacuum cleaner again….” he explains.

Admiring the cuckoo clocks at the Modern Homes Exhibition in the Kelvin Hall in 1951. Pic: Herald and Times

“When the Motor Show parked up in the Hall there was no doubting its entertainment value.

“In those days, when each make of car was distinctively styled, young boys took pride in being able to identify models from Humber, Hillman, Wolseley, Riley, and Vauxhall.”

Our magnificent picture archive is full of fantastic photos of the Motor Show in its heyday, including this very early shot from 1935.

The car pictured is Sir Malcolm Campbell’s Bluebird, one of many vehicles sharing the famous name and owned by the British racing driver and motoring journalist who gained the world speed record on land and on water at various times during the 1920s and 1930s.

It was obviously the star attraction in Glasgow, with huge crowds turning up to see it.

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Ian Hutcheson adds: “The entertainment value of the events hosted by the Kelvin Hall was not always immediately obvious, but exhibitions of science and industry could spring surprises.

“It was at one these events that I first heard the words ‘electronics’, ‘automation’ and ‘computer’ - words that spoke of the modern world we were to grow up in.”

What are your memories of the Kelvin Hall?

Get in touch to share your stories and photos of the famous venue.

Email ann.fotheringham@glasgowtimes.co.uk or write to Ann Fotheringham, Glasgow Times, 125 Fullarton Drive, Glasgow G32 8FG.