fayyoung

About Fay

Editor in Chief for Walking Heads, Fay is a blogger, writer and editor with a special interest in what makes cities tick.

Seeding success: a new Paisley pattern

Tread softly on the way to Paisley Town Hall; it’s a journey threaded with names of the stuff that made a great civic centre. Here’s Gauze Street crossing the canal. Turn right at Abbey Place just before the road divides between Lawn Street and Cotton Street. And pause. […]

Help keep live music alive

Where were you between the hours of 12 noon on March 9 and March 10?   No, that’s not a question from a police enquiry, but your answer could contribute to vital information affecting life – or the life of live music – around you. […]

Five good reasons for walking to work (and play)

What makes a Walking City? To be honest, getting fit was not the reason we created our audio walking tours but we soon discovered how quickly you can clock up the miles when you are following a good story. […]

Introducing Doctor When, Walking Heads Time Lord

Celebrating our fifth anniversary we’re on a mischievous journey back in time. Meet Doctor When who juggles a few ‘alternative facts’ about Robert Plant and his parting gift to Glasgow Apollo – though one of them is true.  But which one? […]

And what comes after the T break?

At a very crucial level Tennent’s involvement in music is about doing something for our community: George Kyle So T Break takes on new meaning. After dominating the rock festival scene for 23 years, Tennent’s has decided it is time to take stock. The last few years have posed challenges and there will be no T in the Park 2017. But what comes next? Don’t underestimate the potential for adventurous reinvention.   […]

Back to the future with the Clay Pipe Factory

So we reach the final member of the cast of A Brisk Walk. The story of the Clay Pipe Factory makes a happy ending for our tour of buildings at risk. Or, perhaps we should say, a happy new beginning.  […]

Peacock’s Tea Room: disappearing Art Deco

Ready for a cup of tea?   Seventy or eighty years ago we might have popped into Peacock’s Tearoom, in Glasgow’s Trongate.  Will we get there before the Art Deco building disappears? […]

Brutally beautiful: will Typographical House survive?

To the river.  On the way to the fourth star of A Brisk Walk we pass symbols of the Glasgow that has all but disappeared.  Can Typographical House take advantage of the tide that has turned? […]

Were you there? Big Red Shed gigs

‘I’ve still got my ticket for the gig, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one not to seek a refund.’ In the build up to tomorrow’s MOBO awards, Jim Gellatly remembers other great gigs at the SSE Hydro’s nearest neighbour, the ‘Big Red Shed’ – and one that, tragically, never happened. […]

Creative cities: built on can-do culture

All’s fair in love, war and creative city competition. Well, yes, maybe but losing a heartfelt City of Culture bid can hurt as Creative Dundee’s Gillian Easson freely admits. […]

The Hatrack: Art Nouveau beauty

Officially it is named St Vincent Chambers, but everyone knows it as the Hatrack.  Meet the third star of A Brisk Walk architecture audio tour. In a way this tall, slim, elegant Art Nouveau building symbolises the rise and fall of Glasgow architecture in the early 20th century […]

Lion Chambers: second stop on A Brisk Walk

Half way down Hope Street we find an astonishing monument to Glasgow’s architectural audacity.  Let’s stop and look up at the Lion Chambers. More than a hundred years ago, they said it couldn’t be done.  […]