E02 → Cock Fighting

During the Victorian era, many sports involved hurting animals in Glasgow. These blood sports were part of the entertainment and enjoyment. James Murray, a member of the Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire Hounds, found pleasure in chasing animals: “ What can surpass the healthful enjoyment of field sports? Who is there acquinted with their many attractions and who can relish the excitement of those varies scenes of manly diversion who does not feel his heart bound within him at their bare mention? A taste for the pursuit of wild animals is inherent in human nature. Otter-hunting above all sport is one to which the above remarks particularly apply, as everyone, without cost, from the pper to the peasant, can participate in the fun if they have only a good pair of legs, a stout heart, and strong lungs so as to be able to stick to the hounds and see them working”.

A taste for the pursuit of wild animals is inherent in human nature.

In 1807, there was a building dedicated to a cock-pit on Hope Street that could seat 280 people. Before that, schoolboys provided cocks and were supervised by the master while the activity was conducted in secret. It was one of the shows that manny enjoyed until the Cruelty to Animals Act 1835 made it illegal. 

Although the exact building on Hope Street for the cock-fighting area is unknown, the old restaurant and bar called Sloan’s Bar claims that the alley used to be a cock-fighting arena. The alley is currently used for tables and chairs as the outdoor part of Sloan’s Bar venues.