Glasgow
Fabulous food, superb shops and stellar museums – enjoy them all in 48 hours
THIS bright, lively destination was recently named one of the world’s friendliest cities. It matches the Scottish capital Edinburgh for top-class museums, and adds to its appeal with giant street murals, acres of green space, good food, music and the exquisite legacy of designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh. GARETH HUW DAVIES gives his top tips on how to spend a weekend in this sparkling city…
DAY 1 MORNING
Bustling, pedestrianised Buchanan
Street is regarded by many as the UK’s finest shopping street. Many big names are here, occupying tall, proud Victorian buildings. Branching off it is Ingram Street, Glasgow’s answer to fashionable Bond Street in London.
A good place to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928), who created some of the city’s most distinctive buildings, is his first creation – the former headquarters of the Glasgow Herald newspaper on Mitchell Street. Restored as The Lighthouse, it houses Scotland’s Centre for Design and Architecture. It’s worth a visit for an exhibition on Mackintosh, and to see the helix-shaped staircase.
Walk up Buchanan Street, past the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and turn left into the city’s other famous way, Sauchiehall Street. A big attraction here, and a good place to stop for refreshment, is the Willow Tea Rooms and Salon
de Luxe (willowtearoomstrust.org). It reopens tomorrow, refurbished to Mackintosh’s original design.
You could walk on west, but the route is across the busy M8. A more peaceful alternative is to take the subway – an attraction in itself and an easy way to get around the city centre and West End. Single tickets cost from £1.50 (€1.70).
Go from Cowcaddens station two stops west to Kelvin Bridge, for
Eusebi Deli and Trattoria (152 Park Road), my favourite place for focaccia or a slice of pizza. For an evening meal try their Pasta Laboratory (eusebideli.com).
AFTERNOON
Take a stroll south across Kelvingrove Park, created by Sir Joseph Paxton, better known for London’s Crystal Palace. On its far edge is one of great public art collections, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum (glasgowlife.org.uk). Glasgow solved the problem of how to make museums and galleries appeal to all by making this and all its collections lively, inviting and free.
There’s a suspended Spitfire, paintings by French Impressionists and the ‘Glasgow Boys’, Scottish wildlife, prehistoric animals, Egyptian relics, and yet more Mackintosh. It’s a ten-minute walk to the new
Riverside Museum of Transport (or take the 100 bus), designed by Zaha Hadid. This striking building, under a jagged, silvery roof, with a vast glass frontage on to the river, opened in 2011.
Inside it’s a riot of trams, old cars, locomotives, a bike race high above your head, and war heroes.
Nearby is the new Science Centre, dominated by the 400ft-high Glasgow Tower, one of the world’s few fully rotating buildings.
A way to join up many of the sites I’ve mentioned is on a sightseeing bus tour( city sightseeing glasgow. co.uk). The commentary on my bus from a real guide was wise, engaging and jolly.
Back in central Glasgow, find out why this is a Unesco-designated music city, the largest music economy in the UK after London. There are live performances every night, from Scottish Opera at Edington Street (scottishopera.org. uk) to rock and electronica. I stayed the night at the Grand
Central Hotel. Recently restored, it is one of the city’s most beautiful buildings.
DAY TWO MORNING
The glittering Burrell Collection, one of Britain’s top galleries, is closed until 2020 for a makeover, so I recommend a trip out to the tranquil House For An Art Lover in Bellahouston Park. It opened in 1996, inspired by the original plans of Mackintosh. To get there, take the train from Central Station to Dumbreck (six minutes). Then it’s a ten-minute walk. After heading back to the city, take the City Centre Mural Trail. Street artists have brightened up tenements and hoardings around derelict land. Depicted on a massive scale are a fierce-looking tiger, a floating taxi, and a sunken Dalek in the Clyde. Alas, one of the jewels of the city and Mackintosh’s pièce de résistance, the famed Glasgow School of Art in Renfrew Street was engulfed in fire recently, the second such fire in a matter of years. It was due to reopen next year, but it may now be lost for ever. A good lunch spot is McCune Smith Cafe (3 Duke Street), named after James McCune Smith, a student in the city and the first African-American to gain a medical degree. (mccunesmith.co.uk).
AFTERNOON
There’s a different pulse to the city’s East End. Begin with a laugh, and spot the traffic cone always adorning the Duke of Wellington’s statue, next to the Gallery of Modern Art, just east of Buchanan Street. In the 1980s a cone mysteriously appeared on his head. Ever since, whenever a cone is removed, a new one appears. His mount often gets one too. Afterwards take the 263 bus to
Glasgow Green, another of the great city parks. The big draw is the People’s Palace, with an exhibition celebrating Glasgow’s industrial past.
Continuing on, the next, and newest, East End attraction (take the CG1 bus from Megan Street to Sorn Street, then ten minutes on foot) is the remarkable Cuningar
Loop Woodland Park, created from an urban wasteland in a loop in the River Clyde. It has paths, boardwalks and places to spot nature. (scotland.forestry.gov.uk).
Glasgow bursts with home-grown culinary talent. I like The Gannet (thegannetgla.com), housed in a once-derelict tenement building (1155 Argyle Street). Staff serve small bar plates and bigger dishes, at reasonable prices. And all of the dishes contain Scottish ingredients only. If The Gannet is full, there are plenty of alternatives. The Finnieston (1125 Argyle Street) is great for seafood and bespoke beers, and the Crabshakk (1114 Argyle Street), serves crab and lobster from the Western Isles.