Warehouse frontage,

Rather surprisingly this splendid Victorian warehouse in James Watt Street is still in use as a warehouse, the frontage gives an idea of it's past use and glory. I am glad to see this resistance to the creeping onslaught of office blocks.
History lesson: many of the warehouse in this area were used for spirits or tobacco, this explains the barred windows. In the 1960's this had tragic results, in 1960 a bonded warehouse on Cheapside Street went on fire, the firemen attending could not get to the fire in time due to the bars and as a result the building blew up killing 19 of them. In 1968 a warehouse being used as a factory in James Watt Street went on fire, 22 people died as they were unable to escape as the windows were barred and the fire was centred on the stairwell.