Maryhill is a residential seat north west of the city but bordering the centre at its southern extreme, where it takes in half of the Botanical Gardens. It also contains Firhill, home to the football club Partick Thistle.
The housing is a mixture of that found on large council estates, such as Possil and Summerston, and owner-occupied terraces in Woodside and North Kelvinside. Unemployment is high, and the ethnic minority population, though small, is large for a Glasgow seat. The largest concentration of Chinese people in Scotland live here, although that still accounts for less than 1 in a 100 of the whole population.
This is yet another Glasgow seat with a history of loyalty to Labour, held by the party since 1945. A curious aspect of the 1997 election was that the Natural Law Party got its best result in this seat, polling 651 votes; the reason for this may lie with the name of their candidate, Blair.