I hadn’t been to Glasgow for a while before last Sunday.

Imagine my surprise when I came upon this in Byres Road:-

This wasn’t a Nardini’s the previous time I was in Byres Road but I can’t remember what shop occupied this building up to then.

They have tried to make it look Deco, certainly. The lettering is Deco; and the top glazing. The interior lighting is like the ones in the re-opened Nardini’s in Largs.

Since it is new I can’t really include it in my Glasgow’s Art Deco Heritage series. I wonder if anyone in the future will think it’s 1930s.

For those of you who care about these things I decided a while ago that the numbering system I was using for my Scotland’s Art Deco Heritage posts had become too unwieldy.

For really signature buildings (or those geographically remote) I have retained the Scotland’s Art Deco Heritage title but otherwise I now list buildings under a narrower geographical heading, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee etc.

As a result I thought it better to re-number some earlier posts retrospectively and edit the posts accordingly.

For the record the changes are:-

Scotland’s Art Deco Heritage 6. Bon Accord Baths: now Aberdeen’s Art Deco Heritage 1

SADH 7. Carron Restaurant: now SADH 6

SADH 8 (and update.) Nardini’s: now 7 (and update)

SADH 9. Northern Hotel: now Aberdeen 2

SADH 10. Tarlair Swimming Pool: now 8

SADH 11. Ascot Cinema: now 9

SADH 12. Kelvin Court: now 10

SADH 13. Victoria Cinema: now Edinburgh’s Art Deco Heritage 1

SADH 14. Green’s Playhouse: now Dundee’s Art Deco Heritage 1

SADH 15. Murraygate (I): now Dundee 2

SADH 16. Murraygate (II and III): now Dundee 3

SADH 17. now Dundee 4

SADH 18. Causewayside Garage: now Edinburgh 2

SADH 19. Dumbarton: now 11

SADH 20. Tobermory: now 12

SADH 21. Perth: now 13

SADH 17 (ii). Lilybank Mews: now Dundee 5

SADH 9 (ii). Beach Ballroom: now Aberdeen 3

SADH 22. Stonehaven Swimming pool: now 14

End of public information announcement.

On my trip Doon The Watter I ended up at Largs, so naturally I took the chance to visit and photograph the refurbished Nardini’s.
This is a stitched together photo of the two I took of the exterior. I like the flags, a true Art Deco touch. Note the “ghost” of the car that was turning left on to the main street.

What a splendid job they’ve made of the restoration. It’s been tastefully done with lovely light shades in the cafe part, stepped octagonal box shapes.
The ice cream selling area (through the corner entrance) also has a Deco type shade on the central light but it’s a stepped cylindrical shape.
The glassware on the doors has also been rendered in the Deco style.
The décor inside and glass doorway reflect the Art Deco feel. The chairs and tables in the café part were less striking though.
This is the photo of the left side.

The present owners have no connection with the Nardini family as far as I know.
Encouragingly the place was busy, though.
We had to sample the wares, of course. The good lady had a double cone with Belgian Chocolate and Caramel Shortcake flavours, I had Double Cream Vanilla and Tablet. (The sign said, “Scottish Tablet,” – must be for the tourists.)
Here is the photo from the right aspect.

There were other ice cream purveyors in Largs including a different Nardini’s – perhaps someone from the original family trading on a smaller scale than before.
Largs is still a typical seaside town. There were even people buying rock from a wee sweetie shop. It took me back.

Due to someone viewing (on 1/8/09) my previous post about Nardini’s (see link above) I found this video on you Tube.

Nardini’s website is here. See also this nice set of aerial photos.