Fire Insurance survey maps of the most valuable Glasgow property were compiled by Goad from 1886 onwards. Coverage of the earliest Goad maps volume can be used to define a Central Business District (CBD) which is shaded lilac on the map below. This CBD is centred on 1881 Registration District (RD) 7.

We know from the Post Office Directory listings that main business addresses, particularly of partnerships and corporations, were heavily concentrated in RD 7. However, manufacturing sites (“works”) were often located much further out, extending right to the periphery of the city. 

The concentration of manufacturing outside of the CBD also suggests that when we look by area at the distribution and difference in mean rents for sole trader men in 1881 we can point to the higher rent charged on works and small manufactories as an explanation for some of the difference. The sectors that sole trader men worked in were much more diverse than those for sole trader women, who were much less likely to be involved in manufacturing.

Glasgow’s Valuation Rolls reveal that occupiers of commercial properties in RD 7 pay the highest annual rents on average. Even though the individual rents of large chemical works, forges or textile factories can be colossal, they are relatively rare and sparsely distributed compared to the high concentration of premium shops, warehouses and offices of the CBD.