A Covid flashback? No, portrait of city left deserted by transport meltdown
RESTAURANTS, bars, nightclubs and theatres yesterday revealed how badly they have been hit by Scotland’s trains crisis.
Friday night – payday for many people and the start of a holiday weekend for some workers – should have been one of the busiest and most profitable of the year so far for city centre venues.
But businesses said the savage cuts to train services had severely damaged trade.
Many reported a lack of advance bookings and an overall drop in customers, as people headed home early, desperate not to be stranded by the lack of trains.
The Scottish Mail on Sunday carried out a snapshot survey in Glasgow to assess the impact of the train crisis.
Fore Play Crazy Golf is popular with afterwork drinkers and party groups. The golf-inspired nightspot, with venues in Glasgow and Edinburgh, opens at 4pm on a Friday.
Craig Neilson, its managing director, said: ‘The city’s night-time economy heavily relies on Glasgow’s public transport infrastructure. For a city with such a vibrant hospitality industry, it’s disappointing that we are facing a severely curtailed service which, we believe, is significantly impacting bookings. We, as a city, expect and deserve better from our transport services.’
Angie Koblik, 31, and 36-year-old James McGowan left a gig not long after it began at 8pm to get a train to the South Side of the city. Mr McGowan said: ‘We were at a Bruce Springsteen tribute at the Hard
Rock Café and we left to get a train home. They are normally every 15 minutes but we left before the end to make sure we got it.’
American band The Flaming Lips played in Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom on Friday. Some in the audience left before the final song to catch a train. Tom Joyce, general manager of the venue, said: ‘It’s appalling. We’ve had a lot of calls asking for stage times and we’re expecting a backlash as a result of the changes as this goes on.’
Michele Arrighi, owner of Sarti’s restaurant chain, said: ‘We had a number of cancellations and added to that is the staff who rely on public transport to get home.’
ScotRail last night said that although it had hoped to run some later services this evening, these would now be cancelled.