Colin MacFarlane was born in the Gorbals in the 1950s, 20 years after the publication of No Mean City, the classic novel about pre-war life in what was once Glasgow's most deprived district. He lived in the same street as its fictional 'razor king', Johnnie Stark, and subsequently realised that a lot of the old characters represented in the book were still around as late as the 1960s. Men still wore bunnets and played pitch and toss; women still treated the steamie as their social club. The razor gangs were running amok once again, and filth, violence, crime, rats, poverty and drunkenness abounded, just like they did in No Mean City.

MacFarlane witnessed the last days of the old Gorbals as a major regeneration programme, begun in 1961, was implemented, and, as a street boy, he had a unique insight into a once great community in rapid decline. In this engrossing book, MacFarlane reveals what it was really like to live in the old Gorbals.

• We started tracking this book on March 6, 2012.
• This book was £5.73 when we started tracking it.
• The price of this book has changed 57 times in the past 4,873 days.
• The current price of this book is £0.99 last checked one hour ago.
• The lowest price to date was £0.99 last reached on June 18, 2025.
• This book has been £0.99 one time since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was £9.99 last reached on November 11, 2024.
• This book has been £9.99 one time since we started tracking it.
• This book is currently at its lowest price since we started tracking it.

• Science & MathsBiological SciencesBiologyGeneral
• Science & MathsEarth Sciences

• Publication Date: July 22, 2011
• Text-to-Speech: Disabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 260 Pages
• File Size: 740 KB