Tradespeople in Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire

Alexandria is the largest town in the Vale of Leven, sitting on the River Leven about three miles south of Loch Lomond and sharing a continuous built-up area with Bonhill and Renton.

The town grew rapidly during the 18th and 19th centuries as a centre of textile printing and dyeing - the Turkey red dyeing industry made the Vale of Leven internationally known and at its peak the bleach and dye works employed thousands of workers along the banks of the Leven.

Alexandria has a traditional main street with a range of local shops and services, a library and a community centre. The town serves as the commercial centre for the Vale of Leven, with Balloch and Loch Lomond a short distance to the north.

Rail services from Alexandria reach Glasgow Queen Street in around 40 minutes and the A82 trunk road passes close by, providing access to Glasgow to the south and Loch Lomond and the Highlands to the north.

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West Dunbartonshire is a council area on the north bank of the River Clyde, stretching from the western edge of Glasgow at Clydebank through Dumbarton to the southern tip of Loch Lomond at Balloch.

The area has a proud industrial heritage shaped by shipbuilding, engineering and manufacturing. Clydebank was one of the great shipbuilding towns of the world - the Cunard liners Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth 2 were built in John Brown's shipyard - and the town bore devastating damage during the Clydebank Blitz of March 1941, one of the most destructive bombing raids on any British town during the Second World War.

Dumbarton, the administrative centre, sits at the confluence of the River Leven and the Clyde, overlooked by Dumbarton Rock and its ancient castle - a volcanic plug fortress that has been a stronghold since at least the fifth century and served as the capital of the medieval Kingdom of Strathclyde.

The Vale of Leven - Alexandria, Bonhill, Renton and Jamestown - runs north along the River Leven to Balloch, the gateway to Loch Lomond. The area is well connected by rail, with services from Balloch, Dumbarton and Clydebank reaching Glasgow Queen Street and Glasgow Central in 30 minutes or less and the A82 providing the main road route to Loch Lomond and the Highlands.

The proximity to Loch Lomond and the Kilpatrick Hills gives West Dunbartonshire immediate access to open countryside and the national park, while the ongoing regeneration of Queens Quay in Clydebank is bringing new housing, healthcare and public spaces to the waterfront.