“The Asian and Chinese student communities are keeping the lights on in Sauchiehall Street. There’s a mixed grain superstore that’s always going like a fair and there will be a lot more of that. They’re arriving here in droves and spending money. The Tesco at that end of the street is full of Chinese kids. It’s great to see.
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“They’re also opening and operating lots of good shops and cafes on nearby Cambridge Street. I’m sure there will be more of them and they hold the key to an economic recovery in this part of the city centre.”
Mr Quigley made his comments in the wake of fierce criticism at how long the Sauchiehall Street Avenues re-development was taking by Stuart Patrick, Chief Executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce.
In an exclusive Herald interview last week, Mr Patrick had criticised the length of time that had already elapsed – 450 days – in the construction work and that this had contributed to a 20% drop in Sauchiehall Street’s footfall.
He said: “Sauchiehall Street has not worked the way anyone has wanted. The whole process of doing Sauchiehall Street has just added to the sense of decay. That has led to one of the main streets looking like a building site. It has not been well presented.”
Mr Quigley also spoke of his shame at the state of Sauchiehall Street. “I’ve been operating restaurants in this neighbourhood for more than 30 years. As far as I can see, they’ve just replaced the bricks on the pedestrianised part of the street.
“We have 50 American customers in here every night of the week from March to October. But you couldn’t confidently tell them to take a walk down Sauchiehall Street. You’d be ashamed.
“You might once have pointed them in the direction of the Art School because that’s our Sistine chapel, but let’s not even go there. And then look at that massive crater where the ABC used to be. It’s wrecked the entire end of that street too.”