Port Glasgow 2025

21/06/2026

SAVE THE DATE!

📆 Saturday 25th July
⏰ 11am start

Stalls, bouncy castle, guess bears name, guess sweets in jar, raffles, tombola, hot dogs, burgers and homebaking! And our favourite… SOAK THE MINISTER 🧽

Lots going on, including a visit from a very special unicorn pony!🦄

🙌🏼Lots of fun for all the family!
🆓FREE entry!

Please share!

Any donations for our tombola or raffle would be great fully appreciated. Anything from chocolate, biscuits, tin of soup, jar of coffee, unused toiletries, toys (new only please) all donations welcome! ❤️

16/06/2026

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿❤️ They’ll Be Coming Down The Road ❤️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

No Port, No Party 🎉

This Saturday we will have a triple celebration and a bit of a get together.

🚢 The new Comet replica gets unveiled
🎡 The Comet Festival takes place 39 years after the first one
⚽️ The Comet Festival Parade this year celebrates Scotland in The World Cup - join the tartan army parade!

There are 78,000 reasons to take part.

🙋‍♂️ Ok you lost me, 78,000 reasons? You mean the population of Inverclyde?

🤔 Yes - Inverclyde as a community is strongest when it pulls together.

The Comet Festival isn’t just for people from Port Glasgow, this is an Inverclyde festival and here to support everyone.

🙋‍♂️ But these things cost loads of money and times are tight

🤔 The Comet Festival Committee are committed to making as much of the festival free or low cost to support the community.

This is your festival and we need people to come support it.

❤️ The Comet Festival was founded to give a bit of hope to the community by strong community leaders.

❤️ It was founded by the community, for the community and was open to all.

❤️ Next year we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first festival and we need that community spirit to stand up again.

“A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.”

🙋‍♂️ Isn’t the festival run by the Council?

🤔 The council make £13,000 available every year to provide the infrastructure for the festival from the Common Good Fund - basically some of the rent collected from John Wood Street and Bay Street shops in Port Glasgow.

The Comet Festival Committee then helps programme the events.

🫵 This is where we are missing out. Every year that £13,000 buys less and less.

This year the suggestion from the council was that we cancel:

🍺 The beer tent
🎸 The Stage

🤦‍♂️ Obviously we didn’t go for that and we’ve found a way to have both.

👍 We’ve also found a way to have a free bouncy castle and a free face painter so every family can come and enjoy something on the day without spending a penny.

❤️👋 This is a call to arms for this year and next 👋❤️

🤷‍♂️ That £13,000 will buy less again next year.

The cuts to the festival programme will only snowball if we allow it to be a council led event and not a community led event.

🙋‍♂️ Here is what we need people to do:

- Get along on Saturday and take part in the Scotland World Cup parade - 11am at the Comet (everyone welcome to walk behind the piper and sing your wee heart out)
- Visit the festival and support the committee who will be running a bottle stall and the tea tent - all money raised goes towards making next year better

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿⚽️❤️ Got a Scotland strip or a blue t-shirt? Join the tartan army parade.

11am - this Saturday 20th ❤️⚽️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

After this year is out the way we will be relaunching the festival - strengthening it in time for the big 40 next year.

Come support your community.

21/05/2026

❤️🤔 Iron Plans 🤔❤️

Plans are afoot to turn the Inverweld blacksmith shop on King Street into a food, drink & entertainment venue.

A combination of food hall, bar and stage area The Iron Works are looking to open between 11am and 11pm with a 1am license Friday and Saturday night.

🙋‍♂️ Does this mean Inverweld is shutting?

🤔 No it means Inverweld are growing!

Going strong for over 40 years Inverweld secured a planning consent in 2023 to move their operations to Upper Cartsburn Street in Greenock.

This would allow them to continue to grow and provide staff with modern purpose built facilities. Would also allow nightshirt working where required.

We are being advised that Inverweld however have stayed within Port Glasgow and moved up to Devol Industrial Estate 👏

🙋‍♂️ So is this a pub or a venue or a restaurant?

🤔 Short answer is it looks like all 3.

🍖 With 4 new sit in food offerings in a new vibrant venue, will it be enough to get the retail park customers to breach the Shore Street barrier, we would hope so.

🍺 A well stocked bar on the doorstep of the Comet and Donnachies, will this bring competition or additional footfall?

🎤 As a venue this could be a stunning space with a stage area planned. Given the age of the building and its proximity to the wee alley, the challenge will be keeping the noise in.

🏗️🏡 With a monthly footfall of over half a million people every month, Port Glasgow already sees enough visitors to sustain venues like this - if we can coax them from the retail park.

This type of venue 100% goes towards achieving that and showing investor confidence that Port Glasgow is on the up.

🤔 The challenge is can we change our high streets enough in Port Glasgow to turn the trickle of shoppers into a wave.

Thats going to take more brave investors and also going to take investment in supporting infrastructure.

Do we have enough taxis to get people home?

Is there enough shops fit for purpose to be occupied?

Do we have the right mix of independent shops to entice visitors?

❤️ We continue to take on that challenge.

At present Port Glasgow can feel like a zero sum game, that is, everyone fighting over the same customers.

The potential for The Port is to become more attractive to the millions that visit the retail park each year and getting them comfortable and confident shopping in the Port.

For that we need to offer them more.

👏 At the top end of the town centre the £500,000 investment that’s went into the Ivy Mill is a vote of confidence in our town.

👏 These new plans and the fit out at The Iron Works will take similar brave investment.

🤔 These investments need supported and strengthened by a strong independent offering.

🙋‍♂️ What type of food would you like to see in the 4 proposed food stalls?

🙋‍♂️ What are your views on the new plans?

09/05/2026

❤️ Kilmacolm & Port Glasgow Show ❤️

A wee reminder that the annual Kilmacolm & Port Glasgow Agricultural Show takes place today.

❤️ Held on the second Saturday of May each year, one of the longest running community events in Inverclyde.

Pop along to show your support. 👏

An absolutely fantastic family day out, especially the Knapps Experience Area where you can meet the animals.

Kilmacolm and Port Glasgow Show

Why not leave the car at home, get the bus to Kilmacolm and there’s a shuttle bus from 10am taking you to the show ground.

Check out the YouTube video in the comments to see highlights of last years show.

07/05/2026

❤️ Port Glasgow & The Blitz 💔

“When the rich make war, it’s the poor that die.” – Jean-Paul Sartre

85 years ago over the nights of the 6th and the 7th of May 1941 the towns of Inverclyde were hit with a wave of air raids.

Britain would endure war in Europe for another 4 years exactly, ending with Germany’s eventual surrender on 7th May 1945, VE Day is celebrated the day after.

In Port Glasgow 74 people lost their lives over those nights. We highlight below the biggest incidents.

🏡 Woodhall

A bomb exploded beside an air raid shelter where over 100 people had took refuge. The shelter collapsed as a result of the blast killing 20 women, 19 children and 1 man.

🌳 Birkmyre Park (The Public Park)

A bomb exploded on the football pitch killing around 10 people sheltering at the burn beside it. The air raid wardens were stationed at the bowling green at the foot of the park.

💔 Bouverie Street

An air raid at Bouverie killed 13 and injured another 40. This was directly behind the Ropeworks and the UKs longest private air raid shelter built by the Birkmyre for the workers.

When the war was over nations came together and vowed never to see that sort of madness ever again.

💔 Our nightly news shows time and again that it is always the most vulnerable who will pay the highest price.

29/04/2026

❤️🙋‍♂️ Can you help grow Comet Festival this year?

The AGM is tonight in the Salvation Army on King Street at 7.

Come make a difference for your community.

You don’t have to commit time or money or a promise of a role.

Come along and hear where The Comet Festival is going and see if you can help.

Beautiful sunny night for a walk over to King Street.

Port Glasgow 2025
Port Glasgow West Community Council
Inverclyde Community & Road Watch
Greenock Telegraph
Discover Inverclyde
Martin McCluskey MP for Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West
Inverclyde Now

ALL WELCOME! Be part of the story !

27/04/2026

👓 Seeing More Clearly 🕶️

Can’t believe it’s been a year since Specsavers opened their store in Port Glasgow.

👏 Well done on your anniversary and for your sponsorship of the Port Juniors 👏

It’s been a pretty incredible year, and in keeping with the theme of vision - we are starting to see who’s holding Port Glasgow back and who is and isn’t up for the fight.

Pop along to Spec Savers in the retail park and look out for our next chapter.

The story continues…

25/04/2026

❤️ Old Men’s Club ❤️

“The Mirren Shore Parliament - est 1922”

How many times have I travelled past the wee building that sits beside the public toilets at the bus stops on Fore Street?

How many times in the last 5 decades have I read the words “The Old Men’s Club” and thought subconsciously doesn’t apply to me?

👨‍🦳Well pretty soon it will so time to delve into the archives.

❤️ The Mirren Shore Parliament as they were originally known, were a group of 22 senior citizens that would gather on the corner at West Quay or Mirren Shore and pass their day.

🙉 As most of the men had worked in the noisy shipyards most were a bit deaf. They would read the papers and discuss the news of the day LOUDLY, remarks would be made that the Mirren Shore Parliament was in session - the name stuck.

📖 In 1922 the Port Glasgow town council gave the group use of some land at Mirren Shore.

🏗️ Lithgow’s was dismantling the SS Patricia at the time. The cabin was salvaged and placed on the land and The Old Men’s Club was formed.

Membership was open to any male over 65 and they would meet discuss news, support each other, get a heat and organise outings.

🙋‍♂️ When did they move from Mirren Shore to Fore Street?

🚚 On the 22nd April 1946 (80 years ago last Wednesday) - the Parliament took a recess and the official opening of their new home in the Coronation Park took place.

Their new building was the old ARP Report Centre beside the toilets and weigh bridge at the entrance to the Coronation Park.

With World War II just ending this building was now vacant.

🙋‍♂️ So that’s the building they are in now?

🤔 No, that’s where we need your help!

From the photos we can find it looks like the old ARP control centre was behind the toilets towards the river.

This would have needed to be demolished to make way for the A8.

💔 The new building, the one that exists today, has an uncertain history and an even more uncertain future.

💔 Ownership is disputed/contested.

💔 It has been provided rent free for decades, however now Inverclyde wishes to charge a lease, threatening the existence of the current charity that uses it.

🫵❤️ Do you have any history of the new building? Do you have any knowledge of how it was build and who paid for it?

👇 Leave a comment below or get in touch, maybe ask your granny or your granda what they remember about the Old Men’s Club.

❤️ We could certainly do with getting the Parliament back in session!

Inverclyde Heritage Network

16/04/2026

📖❤️⚓️ Tell Me A Story ⚓️❤️📖

🤔 Who can tell me the story of the comet?

🙋‍♂️ First commercial steam ship in Europe, designed by Henry Bell of Helensburgh and built by John Wood of Port Glasgow in 1812.

🤔 A++ (But)

🤔 Who can tell me the story of the Comet through the lens of Port Glasgow?

🙋‍♂️ What does that suppose to mean?

The story of Port Glasgow for the last couple of centuries has typically been written by people who have never been to the place.

1700’s and 1800’s those stories would have been narrated by people passing through, told through a social lens of characters and travellers tales.

Late 1800’s to mid 1900’s the talk would have been industries and tonnages of ships produced and labour and systems. The Ports identity narrowed even as its visibility increased.

Mid 1900’s till now - decline, decay, post industrial, media and institutions.

😡 Talking about us rather than to us. 😡

Information about the Port is always second hand, told externally not rooted in lived experience.

❤️ Through our local place plan we want Port Glasgow to write its own story, speak its own plans into existence.

❤️ The job isn’t to tell a better story for the Port - it’s to shift who gets to tell that story and how it circulates.

🙋‍♂️ What about the Comet then?

🤔 Over the next few days there are free events in the Port Town Hall where you can go find out more information about the new Comet replica.

There are things for the kids to do.

Most importantly there’s a chance to share what the Comet and the Comet replica means/meant to you.

💔 Don’t leave this story to be told through the lens of visitors or passers by

❤️ Go discuss the Comet - you probably don’t know what it means to you till you start speaking about it

❤️ Did you ever get your feet wet in the pond that surrounded the original replica?

❤️ Had a picture taken in front of it?

Get along to the Port Town Hall today, tomorrow and Saturday to tease out what the Comet means to you.

Let’s not leave this story to the passers by