GOVANHILL is arguably the most divisive area of Glasgow. In conversation, you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.

Criticise the south side community and there's two dozen people waiting to pounce and tell you why it's the best little area of the city.

Explain why it's the best little area of the city and there's two dozen more ready to tell you why it's a God-awful hell hole.

Despite its ups and downs, I love Govanhill. And here's a few reasons why:

1. The food. Govanhill is a mixing pot of cultures and the results of that are seen - and smelled - as you walk through the area's streets.

There's the Yadgar, on Calder Street, that will serve you up the best curry in Glasgow at incredibly reasonable prices.

For the cheapest cup of tea in the city - at last check, 40p - see the Bungalow Cafe on Victoria Road. It's been owned by Italian immigrant George Verrecchia since 1948.

If you wander round to Pollokshaws Road you can buy fresh bread and fantastic coffee from Tapa or stick your head into the smattering of cafes along on the road, such as Gusto and Relish.

There's the smell of Kebabish Grill, the Punjabi restaurant on Victoria Road.

Come to Govanhill and you won't go hungry.

2. As discussed in point number one, Govanhill has long been popular draw for immigration - initially Highlanders and lowlanders moving down country.

Next came the Irish, who left behind a smattering of pubs, such as Kelly's Bar. The Irish first started to arrive in the late 1830s, escaping famine, and it was estimated that during 1848 there were around 1000 Irish people a week coming to Glasgow with high numbers settling in Govanhill. A second wave arrived in the area in the 1960s.

At the end of the 19th century Jews began to arrive from Poland and Lithuania with more coming during World War II. Others had come earlier, fleeing the Russian Empire.

The Italians came and opened cafes, bringing ice cream to the area.

In the 1960s and 1970s it was then the turn of those from the Asian sub-continent, particularly Pakistan, to make Govanhill home.

Since 2004, when Slovakia and the Czech Republic joined the EU, the Roma have added to the cultural mix and now there are estimates of between 3000 and 5000 Roma in the area.

The community has been called Scotland's Ellis Island, after the New York gateway to America, and diverse is an understatement: there are upwards of 50 languages spoken in the area.

3. Community spirit. You've got South Seeds, for example, on Butterbiggans Road, an environmental organisation that works in the local community to help householders cut their fuel bills as well as community gardening and all sorts of other projects. Their aim is to improve the look of Govanhill and how people feel about the area.

There are frequently marches and protests in Govanhill as people strive to make the community better, to fight for more resources. Young or old there will be a community group you can get involved in and someone to care about the issues affecting you.

Community action has a long tradition in Govanhill. On May Day, 1960, thousands marched along Victoria Road to Queen's Park demanding better housing. Paul Robeson, the radical American civil rights activist, sang Ole Man River for them.

4. Community spirit is nothing as to the strength of feeling and determination that has kept the lovely Edwardian bath house on Calder Street open.

The foundation stone of Govanhill Baths was laid in 1914 and the community hub opened in 1917. It had three swimming pools, a steamie and slipper baths. People would come to swim and to wash. Brides would air their gowns and dress for their wedding days.

The council closure of Govanhill Baths was announced in the Evening Times on January 6, 2001. Following a sit-in and protest, a community trust formed to take over the building. It's work to reopen the baths as a community centre is slow, but steady.

Now, 14 years on, you can find culture, sport and politics in the Baths. Want to see the Royal Shakespeare Company perform? C'mon in. Fancy some world-class art? This is for you. Taiko drumming, yoga, anti-natal classes, Roma youth groups, cookery classes, a choir, crafts. You want it, Govanhill Baths is more than likely to got it.

5. Before Govanhill was called Govanhill, it was called Fireworks Village.

6. William Dixon, of Northumberland, was the main settler of the area, which was a coal mine and a few houses. Mr Dixon owned the coal mine and his influence is still felt in the area - three streets are named for his daughters: Allison, Daisy and Annette. Calder Street was named for another of his collieries while Hickman and Batson streets were named for his friends.

His son built the famous Govan Ironworks, known as Dixon Blazes.

At this time, the turn of the last century, the area was a respectable working and middle class neighbourhood full of Highland and Lowland Scots.

During the Victorian era the Dixon family was one of the richest in the country. The original William's grandson gifted the impressive Dixon Halls, now a community centre, to the area.

7. The Irish connection. The Irish Heritage Foundation has its HQ in Govanhill. There are five Irish pubs and you can still take a bus four times a week directly from Govanhill to West Donegal. Visit Holy Cross Church on Dixon Avenue. Whether you're religious or not, it's stunning.

8. Wander to Bankhall Street and check out the (very) faded glory of the Egyptian cinema. The former Govanhill Picture House was built in 1926 and is Egyptian in style with green and white tiles at the entrance. It's in poor shape now but is a lovely building. At its closure in 1961 the last film played there was Song Without End.

9. Yes, alright. I've done food. But Bakery 47 deserves its own section. It probably deserves its own entire section of the paper.

Opened just a few months ago on Victoria Road, the bakery is run by husband and wife duo Sam and Anna Luntley. I can best describe them as magical pastry pixies, making mouth delights without parallel.

If I operated my working hours in the middle of all that pastry goodness I'd be the size of a tenement block but the pair of them of mysteriously slender. I can only imagine they don't get high on their own supply. I highly recommend that you do.

10. You can your arts here - there's the Dance Factory Dance Studios on Calder Street. Visual artists at The Chalet on Dixon Avenue and Southside Studios on Westmoreland Street.

Govanhill hosts the Streetland Festival each summer, heaving with arts and music. The Southside Festival and Southside Film Festival also base themselves in Govanhill Baths.

Artist Lucie Potter has created a walking tour of Govanhill and it's well worth a go.

11. Govanhill has hidden architectural gems. As well as the picture house, go to the corner of Garturk and Allison streets you can look up and admire a tenement built by "Greek" Thomson, completed in 1875. It's the last space in the city with so many "hard to the pavement" Victorian tenements.

12. Another gem is Govanhill Library. It's one of Glasgow's Carnegie Libraries and designed in the Edwardian Baroque style by James Robert Rhind.

13. Hannah Frank, the daughter of a Jewish immigrant to Govanhill, grew up on Dixon Avenue. Her artwork, line drawings, sculptures and poetry, is now internationally renowned. She ied in 2008 at the age of 100.

14. There is a tree in Queens Park from the people of Belgium thanking Govanhill families for taking in thousands of refuges in 1914.

15. Victoria Road is the main thoroughfare through Govanhill, running from Queen's Park down. It's lively, to say the least, bustling with noise and the cultures that make up the community. The Go Slow Cafe is perfect for a cup of coffee. The Queen's Park Cafe, set up by Italian immigrants, still boasts of the best ice cream in Glasgow. There are fruit and veg and butchers shops where you can go for quality produce, dodging the big supermarkets.

16. We have parks a plenty. Govanhill Park, right in the heart of the community, and Queen's Park at the top of the road. Just inside the Victoria Road entrance is the newly-restored Queen's Park bandstand, which is worth keeping an eye on for upcoming events.

17. Chris, who died for our sins. The evangelical church on Victoria Road sports a huge, pink neon sign that lights up at night to tell us Christ Died For Our Sins. Often the T goes out. But it's symbolic of the many and varied houses of worship in Govanhill and the way communities create their own places of comfort within a larger whole.

18. The Tramway is a slight cheat but, come on, it's right over the road. Sitting on Albert Drive, in Pollokshields, the arts and cultural hub is also home to Scottish Ballet. You can see world-class theatre, dance and art installations. The Hidden Gardens, out the back of the former tram stop, are fabulous on a sunny day for sitting out and lounging - you could be anywhere but you'd never know you were in the heart of a city.

19. In the 1950s the Glasgow Corporation advertised in India and Pakistan for drivers who would help plug the shortage of bus drivers. Some 500 came to the city with the majority working in the Larkfield bus depot. One of them, Bashir Ahmad, became Scotland's first Asian MSP.

20. There is a Big Noise orchestra in Govanhill, part of Sistema. Children from Cuthbertson Primary, Annette Street Primary, Holy Cross Primary and St Bride’s Primary are given music lessons and instruments to teach them to perform but also about community and confidence and pride. They performed at the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games and I don't know about anyone else, but my eyes were not dry.