Opened in 1895, Glasgow Harbour Tunnel ran under the Clyde from Tunnel Street Finnieston on the North to Plantation Place on the South and consisted of a passenger tunnel and two vehicular tunnels accessed by hydraulic hosts, onto which horses and carts descended for the journey under the Clyde. In 1926, the tunnels and their red brick rotundas were taken over by Glasgow Corporation who closed the vehicular tunnels in 1943, the pedestrian tunnel remaining open for another 37 years.

A lone walk through the Harbour Tunnel was not for the faint hearted, a 3ft water main ran along one side with various indeterminate noises nearby and the sparse illumination by bare light bulbs did little to reassure.

Although earmarked for closure, the tunnel, like the Clyde ferries, was reprieved during the modernisation of the Subway in the late 70s but finally closed in 1980.