THE Queen’s baton returns to Glasgow today - three years after the city hosted the Commonwealth Games.

The new baton, which is heading all over Scotland before the 2018 Gold Coast Games, will be welcomed at a series of events today.

With the positive impact on the dozens of bearers chosen in 2014, a new batch of Glaswegians will be meeting the baton today.

And for many, the memories of 2014 are still fresh.

For 73 year-old athletics fan Lesley Eigner, the games were particularly memorable.

She said: “I thought it was brilliant, just as good as the World Athletics Championships in London a few weeks ago.

“If I am honest I was surprised at how smoothly it all went and how well it was organised.

“I’m very impressed with Glasgow now and it has become a leading city, and that might well have started with the Commonwealth Games.”

However, for Darren Collins, 49, the overriding memory of the games is negative, with the noticeable increase of visitors to the city adding a significant amount of time to his commute.

He said: “The main thing that I remember is the poor travel throughout.

“It was impossible to get a decent train journey when it was on.

“For me I find it hard to see what has changed around here and what the real legacy is.”

But for the majority of Glaswegians, the games had a positive effect on the way they viewed the city.

The legacy of the games is something that is often debated but the overwhelming feeling was that Glasgow is now a more prominent city worldwide, and that visitor numbers have benefitted from the games.

Twenty-year-old Arthur Bonham-Carter said: “I remember watching it and my parents being impressed by how Glasgow had now shifted into being this big, global city.

“I’ve lived here for a few years now and I have seen a few influences of the games, but they aren’t everyday things that you notice.”

Eilidh Hill said: “I wasn’t in Glasgow when it was on but it was good for the city as a whole.

“It has certainly looked good for tourism and you can see that there are a lot more people here nowadays.”

Postgraduate teaching student Graeme Stewart, 25, also thought that the games had a positive impact on the number of tourists on the street.

“It has been nothing but good for the city.

“A lot more people are flocking to Glasgow now and that is good to see.

“The city is really on the map now, for sport and for people coming here for a visit.”