72 Nithsdale Road – H C Niven Motor Engineers

The shop at 72 Nithsdale Road has traded as Lunar, the cocktail bar, since September 2022. It had previously operated from 2018 as Niven’s by Cafe Source , named in recognition of its motoring history, and prior to that Kowloons, The Salisbury Restaurant and Cookie.

During its first such incarnation as Cookie, it still retained the original signage, H C Niven & Co, est 1929, Motor Engineers. The motor engineers tag is still visible above the door.

Cookie, with the original Niven sinage

So who was Bert Niven?

Carrick Watson, writing on PreWarCars.com , noted

This was the place to get your Vintage Bentley or Vauxhall 30-98 sorted out. It was run by Bert Niven, a real enthusiast who knew more than most about making proper cars go just that bit faster. Up till recently it was still run as a Garage by his son, the inside was just as I remember it in the 1950’s, full of interesting items and also photographs on the walls alongside bits and pieces for cars that were long gone. Alloy Conrods for a 30-98 ? – certainly !! Real pits to get under the cars with sleeper covers, (back to my own apprenticeship days…) Gasket sets for cars that were just memories, It is my understanding that his son when closing the business down offered the complete contents to Glasgow City Council for their New Motor Museum, but this was not taken up, such a pity.

Carrick Watson appears to have acquired the photos that hung on the wall of the garage, and a few are available on the PreWarCars website , with one reproduced here.

Bert Niven at the wheel of an early Mercedes. Source: PreWarCar.com

In addition Ghost Signs of Glasgow have more information on the man . Herbert Carr Niven was born in 1904 and grew up with his family on Minard Road. He married his wife Margaret Hamilton in 1933, and they rented a flat at 6 Marywood Square for many years thereafter.

As well as servicing local cars, Bert was a real enthusiast who specialised in vintage automobiles. In addition to the workshop, Nivens also offered off road parking, with local residents who rented parking space there still able to recall the workshop in the 1960s. They describe an Aladdin’s cave of fascinating pieces of rare vintage car parts and photographs on the walls, gathered over Bert’s lengthy career. Through the 1970s the workshop continued under Bert’s son, and when Bert passed away in 1986, it seems his son, when closing down the business, had offered the contents of the workshop full of rare vintage components, to Glasgow City Council for their new Motor Museum.

Bert Niven (standing) at The Rest and Be Thankful. Source: Karen Symons / Ghost Signs of Glasgow

William Bennie

During the 2018 renovation and painting, another gem was uncovered. On the back entrance to the building, in Nithsdale Street, an even older shop sign was revealed, and this too has been retained.

William Bennie sign unveiled during renovation, July 2018

This was William Bennie & Son, Butchers. A check in the BygoneBungo database and Post Office Directories shows Bennie to have been in the premises from when it was built up to at least 1903.

William Bennie, 1877 PO Directory

The numbering in this entry can be confusing. 8 Titwood Place is now 72 Nithsdale Road (the shop), and his flat further along at No 19 Nithsdale Road was at that time more usually referred to as 19 Titwood Place. When the terrace was renumbered c.1894 Titwood Place was dropped and the flat became 50 Nithsdale Road. In 1882 he had moved across the road to 2 Salisbury Quadrant, and in 1895 he was at 67 Nithsdale Road, both addresses being effectively opposite his shop.

First use as a garage

Bennie’s shop lasted until at least 1915, but by 1920 had been replaced by the short-lived Titwood Garage, run by motor mechanic Sydney T Brown, and then by 1925 Alexander B Robertson & Company, motor car and cycle specialists. The Nivens took over in 1929.

The building itself, and the New Anand next door with its notable rotunda, was an integral part of the tenement, and built in 1876-77 by Robert Turnbull to a design by Alexander “Greek” Thomson. As noted above, it was initially known as Titwood Place.

If anyone has any further information on the premises, let us know.

(Last edited July 2024, first published December 2016)

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