End of an Era!

It is with much regret that we announce that PD Fishing Tackle and Guns in Cumbernauld will cease trading from Tuesday 08/11/11. We would like to thank all our customers for their loyalty over the last 20 years we have been trading in Cumbernauld. It was in this small shop that the Glasgow Angling Centre was born, and it is an end of an era for the business.

We can still provide all of your fishing tackle and shooting equipment needs at the Glasgow Angling Centre, and with the recent opening of the new M80 motorway our main store is now just 15 minute drive from the original PD Tackle site. Alternatively you can use our award winning mail order service and website. If you need any further information, please contact us.

Where it all started - the Barras Market

The Glasgow Angling Centre story began in the famous Barrowland Market in Glasgow. The MD and owner Paul Devlin started with a small (just 5ft wide!) market stall in the Barras selling mostly second hand tackle but quickly progressed, due to demand, to a much larger market stall in the heart of the Barrowland building.

A young Paul Devlin in PD Tackle & Guns

Soon afterwards, the first fishing tackle shop opened in Cumbernauld, on the outskirts of Glasgow - PD Fishing Tackle and Guns. As the shop was quite small, every inch of space was taken up with as much choice as possible. It soon became the Mecca for anglers from all over the central belt of Scotland and beyond. The first shop was often described as an Aladdin's cave of fishing tackle and was regularly queued right out the door and into the street with customers! It was here Paul made his first foray into the mail order business, which was at that time dominated by large, established and well known companies, many of whom are still in business today. It was a great success and with just two full time staff there were many late nights spent in the shop wrapping parcels for the next days post!

Paul Young cuts the ribbon at the opening of the GAC

Realising that there was a huge gap in the market for a larger shop that could offer an even bigger choice to the angler, Paul worked towards expanding the company and opened the first Glasgow Angling Centre store in the Gallowgate in Glasgow in 1996 - just a stones throw from where he had started in the Barras. With 6600 sq ft of retail space, 2500 sq ft of storage and lots more staff, the shop had the biggest choice in the UK. At first it seemed this would be big enough, but as anglers demanded more choice, GAC needed to expand even further. Mail order increasingly became a major part of the business and, once again, bigger premises were required.

A packed Glasgow Angling Centre

In 2004 the current Glasgow Angling Centre store was opened, and with over 30,000 sq ft of space, it had the largest range of angling equipment in Europe and still has to this very day. Situated on the outskirts of the city centre area of Glasgow the business now employs over 90 full time staff with 50 full time staff between the Glasgow Angling Centre and Glasgow Field Sports, which is now located inside the GAC store. The group also includes the coarse and carp specialists Chapman's Angling with stores in Scunthorpe and Hull and three warehouses full of stock keep all the shops topped up with gear all year long

The business is still growing, and who knows what is coming next!