Govan (original) (raw)

Govan is an area in the Scottish city of Glasgow on the south bank of the River Clyde, just across from Partick. It was formerly administratively independent before being swallowed up by an ever expanding city of Glasgow.

Traditionally viewed as a working-class area, Govan was at one stage the centre of the world renowned Clydeside shipbuilding industry, although few yards remain today, and those that do are under almost constant financial threat.

Unsurprisingly given this background, the area has traditionally been a hotbed of support for the Labour Party, but the Scottish National Party (SNP) is strong there as well and in 1973 won a by-election with Margo MacDonald as their candidate. The SNP repeated this with another by-election victory in 1988, this time with Jim Sillars as candidate.

The football manager Sir Alex Ferguson and the well known trade unionist and labour activist Jimmy Reid were both born and brought up in the area.