Yoker


Glasgow City

A western suburb of Glasgow at the eastern end of Clydebank, Yoker lies on the north bank of the River Clyde, 5 miles (8 km) northeast of the city centre. From the 14th century a ferry linked Yoker with Renfrew on the south bank. A whisky distillery was established here in the late 18th century and in 1877 Napier, Shanks and Bell opened the 'Yoker Old' shipyard. The arrival of the railway and the deepening of its offshore waters from the 1880s encouraged the building of larger vessels. Motor vehicles and tramcars were also manufactured in Yoker which is now an operations centre for Glasgow's suburban rail service. Two high-rise social housing blocks were built on Plean Street in the mid-1960s, which proved popular with those families displaced due to slum clearance. By the 1980s shipbuilding had largely disappeared and unemployment brought social problems. The high flats themselves became slums and were demolished in 2010. The last remaining Clyde ferry still crosses from Yoker to Renfrew, a ferry having operated this route since the 14th Century.


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