Rest In Peace Hampden Bowling Club

Announcement - 27th March 2026

On this day at 8:30pm in 1905, a group of gentlemen sat down at a table in the Liberal Association Rooms on Bankhall Street, Govanhill, Glasgow, and held the first meeting of Hampden Bowling Green Company Limited.

In the Chair was Bailie Thomas Calderwood, who would preside over the Bowling Club for its inaugural year. An incredibly well-connected club that would have several Baillies, Councillors, and Justices of the Peace serve in its formative years.

On this day, 27th March 2026, 121 years to the day, we say goodbye to a fixture of Glasgow's southside. Whether you have walked along Queen's Park Avenue, whether you have been a resident of Kingsley Avenue and overlooked it, or you have been a commuter on the Cathcart District Railway line, you will know Hampden Bowling Club.

The Bowling Club formally shut on 28th February 2026, and today Hampden Bowling Club leaves the site for the last time, with the keys returned to Glasgow City Property.

Over the last 11 years, there has been an almighty effort to keep this bowling club alive. Not only to serve the local community with a low cost social service, but also to explain to the world the importance of this site. The football world owes a debt of gratitude to these 'boolers' who passed down their story from generation to generation, explaining they were on the site of the First Hampden Park, the world's first purposefully-built international football ground.

Their legacy is the Historic Environment Scotland proposals to safeguard the spot where the First Hampden Pavilion foundations rest in Kingsley Rose Gardens with national scheduled monument status. The future of the Bowling Club site now rests with Glasgow City Property, and ultimately Glasgow City Council.

Football's Square Mile was set up to protect this legacy and takeover from the boolers if the club was consigned to history. We are thankful that this is in place to continue this story and make sure this story is never forgotten.

And one final thought. The entire legacy started with the photo below, which stood proudly framed inside the Hampden Bowling Club pavilion. A picture of the First Hampden Pavilion in 1878, when the mighty Queen's Park Football Club proudly opened their shiny new pavilion on their new field of dreams. The football connection is forever strong and one final thought for you all.

When 11 plays 11 = 121

A final nod from the 'boolers' and the Scotch Professors in the sky ensuring their legacy will continue.

Rest In Peace Hampden Bowling Club