With too many other commitments to make Glasgow Explorer what I’d wanted it to be, I’m putting it up for sale.
I’m willing to
If you’re interested in any of these options, then get in touch.
Perfect for a summer’s evening, The Lab combines elements of a traditional Glasgow city centre pub with something a little more upmarket. It offers a wide range of draught and bottled beers, along with a good selection of spirits and their ‘test tube’ shooters — oh, and apparently the white Russians are good, too.
It can get pretty busy, especially at weekends, but then there are few places this central which don’t — it’s nicely off the beaten track for the Sauchiehall Street crowd, though, and is probably a good place to avoid students if that’s your thing.
Peel Holdings, the owners of Clydeport, have unveiled a revised masterplan for the Clyde Harbour development, with more than 30 hectares of the 52 hectare site being redesigned according to a report by the BBC.
The original proposals date from 2001, and have been modified to include a 30 storey skyscraper and a regional casino. Over 2500 new homes will be built in an area stretching from the SECC and the Queen’s Dock in the east to Partick and Scotstoun in the west.
There are no ugly people, only too little vodka.
From the Vodka Wodka website
Vodka Wodka is a tiny bar on Ashton Lane in the city’s West End. It serves a range of Polish, Russian and Scandinavian vodkas, along with cocktails and draught and bottled beers.
It’s an ideal place to grab a quick drink, or to linger a little longer at the bar, but don’t expect to find a seat. Still, with excellent staff and a comprehensive list of spirits, you can’t go far wrong.
Ashton Lane, which runs parallel to Byres Road, features pretty universally in guide books to the city — it’s an attractive cobbled street, full of cosy (and not-so-cosy) bars, pubs and restaurants.
It’s very easy to spend a whole evening there, perhaps starting in the Ashoka, one of the Glasgow-based Harlequin Group’s popular Indian restuarants, or the Ubiquitous Chip, a long-established West End favourite, which serves traditional Scottish and British food in an intimate setting.
As far as pubs are concerned, both Brel and Jinty McGinty’s are worth a look, the former for its range of Belgian and continental beers, and the latter for its no-nonsense (and lively) atmosphere.
Later, bars such as the Loft and Vodka Wodka are stylish and well-staffed, and are ideal for something a bit stronger.
The lane also boasts the Grosvenor Cinema, which shows the latest selected releases alongside classic films.
Ashton Lane is probably best seen on a lazy summer’s day, when bars and pubs are typically open until 1am, with customers spilling out in to the cobbled lane in the warmth of the evening sunshine.
The lane plays a large part in the annual West End Festival, and also hosts its own Hogmanay party. 2005 also saw the first Ashton Lane Beer Festival.
Interestingly enough, there’s also a band called Ashton Lane, with a vague Glasgow connection — they released a single called Yesterday’s Too Late in 2002, but haven’t really surfaced since…
The Buchanan Galleries opened in 1999, and is home to 80 shops over 56000 square metres of retail space — John Lewis occupies the largest unit in the centre.
Construction took nearly three years, and the centre has contributed, along with the redevelopment of the former Buchanan Hotel opposite, to the gentrification of what was a run-down area of the city centre, adjacent to the Royal Concert Hall. The junction of Sauchiehall Street and Buchanan Street, where the centre is situated, now forms the heart of Glasgow’s shopping district.
Original image by Finlay McWalter. Licensed under the Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License.
The Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) is the second most visited contemporary art gallery in the UK outside London, according to the GoMA page on the City Council’s website. It houses a mixture of temporary exhibitions alongside a permanent collection featuring works primarily by local and other British artists.
Formerly a private house, bank and library, the building was converted to its current use in 1996, and is sited in the centre of Royal Exchange Square. Directly in front of GoMA is a statue of the Duke of Wellington, which has a traffic cone placed on its head — while this used to be removed by the City Council, it is now a more-or-less permanent addition, and often features in guidebooks to the city.
Photo by mgallacher
A cut above the ordinary, Princes Square is a shopping centre on Buchanan Street which hosts a range of relatively upmarket shops, along with a selection of restaurants.
The elegant building dates from 1841, and became Princes Square (with additional art nouveau atrium and sweeping escalators) in the mid-1980s; at the time it was a novel concept, and remains to this day an integral part of Buchanan Street’s premium retail space.
Photo by Son Of Groucho
Donald Dewar, the former First Minister, is immortalised in a statue at the junction of Sauchiehall Street and Buchanan Street, outside the Royal Concert Hall.
Originally unveiled in 2002 by Tony Blair, the statue has had a chequered history. It was damaged within days of installation — the damage, originally thought to be vandalism, was later discovered not to have been malicious — and again a fortnight later.
It remained in a state of disrepair, with broken glasses the most notable feature, until October 2005, when it was removed for repairs, and then cleaning. The statue has now been reinstated, on a new, taller plinth, which it is hoped will deter vandals.
However, the new plinth has not found favour with all Glasgwegians, some of whom argue that the polished red sandstone clashes with the golden sandstone of the surrounding buildings — still, better that than seeing it moved to Edinburgh.
Where The Monkey Sleeps (WTMS), which opened in 2001, offers an eclectic range of sandwiches, film-star-themed smoothies and great coffee to boot.
A popular haunt with office workers and bicycle couriers alike, it can get very busy on weekday lunchtimes — however, pop in later in the day or mid-morning and you’ll find it blissfully calm, so take advantage of the comfy sofas and enjoy the temporary exhibitions in the gallery space.
Set up by a group of Glasgow School of Art graduates, it began as an escape from their jobs with multinational coffee chains, and has grown over the years to become a smart, fun place to eat. They place great emphasis on fresh ingredients, and the food is hearty and homemade — a far cry from that served by their rivals.
