IN THE PINK, CLOCKWISE FROM THIS PICTURE Glasgow's Clyde Arc at Finnieston; a wee dram; Dakota Hotel bar; Babu co-owner Rachna Deer; eton mess with tonka bean ricotta and lemon verbena at Ox and Finch; the team at Gannet
' Fur coat, nae knickers' is how Glaswegians are fond of describing Edinburgh folk like me. The implication is that while we give the outward appearance of cultivation, manners and propriety, there’s nothing underneath. I lived an hour’s journey from Glasgow for much of my life, yet only visited it twice; once in error, when I got on the wrong train. Later, when I went as a student, a young woman started talking at me at a bus stop. In Edinburgh, this usually means the person is ‘aff their heid’. Yet this blethersome lass was just passing the time of day. Her harsh brogue was hard to comprehend. Not for the first time I was grateful to Billy Connolly. Without years of hearing the Big Yin’s Glasgow accent on the telly, I wouldn’t be able to decipher a word. Apart from being divided by a common language, there are many other supposed cultural differences between the cities, not least that Edinburgh folk are too busy counting their money to be troubled by in-yer-face Glasgow cheek. But while sensible Edinburgh saves, Glasgow spends – and knows how to have a good time. You’d expect there to be good bars and nightlife in the city, but I’d heard that it now also has a vibrant food culture. It was time to challenge my parochial prejudices, and reassess Glasgow with a third visit in three decades.
HITTING THE STREETS
Glasgow suffers from 1960s urban planning blight, with motorways carving up the city centre. One of the few advantages of this municipal vandalism is that you can reach the city centre in minutes from the airport. Taxis are fairly cheap (£25 set fare from the airport), efficient and plentiful; there’s virtually no Uber presence here (it exists, but the US giant can’t compete with the local companies). Swap the cab interior for the Yorkstone pavements and you’ll find the city centre’s grid is good for a daunder.
Gaze upwards at the handsome, well proportioned Georgian buildings and you get a sense of the rich history; this is where the mercantile classes built their homes and offices. To my Edinburgh eyes the neo-classical elements are immediately familiar.
Many of Glasgow’s smartest hotels and restaurants are sited in the city centre, but the showpiece draw has to be the Glasgow School of Art (gsa.ac.uk). Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s masterpiece, built at the turn of the 19th century, was tragically damaged by fire in 2014. Don’t let this deter you. The student-guided tours of the outside of the definitive Glasgow Style building are a highlight. But it’s not thought-provoking architecture that made Glasgow great; it was the River Clyde, and heavy industry. It’s time to leave the city centre and head for the river.