A trip on one of Glasgow's new Voi bikes reveals where the city is starting to get things right, as well as its biggest challenges, says Mark Smith

I was thinking the other day I’d like to try one of Glasgow’s new Voi bikes – only 16p a mile and an electric boost that’ll make West Campbell Street a lot easier thank the Lord. Then I thought: you know what, why don’t I just jump on the bike and head out for a random wander: see parts of the city I don’t know and streets I’ve never been down. Could be interesting.

So I hired one of the bikes near the river at Pacific Quay and headed off with a vague plan to head east then north and stop at anything that caught my attention and the first thing that did was a building in Maxwell Street near the St Enoch Centre. It’s a fine old Victorian building that’s showing serious signs of neglect (not rare in Glasgow as you know), but it turns out it’s also one of the little signs of hope I’m going to come across on my wander.

There were plans to tear the building down and put up a 19-storey hotel. But this is a weird part of town – narrow, curling streets combined with concrete sprawl that doesn’t lend itself easily to a 19-storey hotel. Not only that, the building, which used to be a printer’s workshop, is rather elegant if you can see past the gawping glassless windows and tarpaulin curtains. And the council agrees for once: they’ve turned down the application to pull it down, which I’m hopeful is a pointer for the future. It’s the way we should be doing things in Glasgow: come up with plans for hotels or student flats or whatever you like, but Do Not Tear Down The Good. Do Not Demolish.

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