THE sign on the left is all this photograph shows of the George Hotel, a property which, towards the end of its life, was often described as one of Glasgow’s biggest eyesores.
Opposite it is the eight-storey building that housed the NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes) Club, as well as offices and shops. Such was the top part of Buchanan Street in 1960 - the part now occupied by the Royal Concert Hall and the Buchanan Galleries.
The hotel was a decidedly atmospheric sort of place that attracted more than a few film-makers (including the team that made Trainspotting). “I’ve enjoyed having the film people here,” the hotel’s owner, Peter Fox, said in June 1998, before work began to turn the property into a Virgin Megastore. “I will be sorry to see it go but you can’t stand in the way of progress.” The NAAFI club had catered for 15,000 service personnel when the building, erected at a cost of £100,000, opened in 1953 but dwindling numbers led to it being axed in June 1960, by which time it was losing £12,000 a year.
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