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Unless you’ve had your head under a blanket for the past few years, you’ll have heard that Glasgow has emerged from a post-war, post-recession, post-depression funk into a post-modern go-postal boom where the arts, fashion and hedonistic fun have combined to transform the city.

 

The marketeers would have you believe it’s up there with Barcelona and Dublin, having already overtaken Edinburgh en route to being Europe’s vogue destination. Scotland with style, they’re calling it. But is it?

 

How to get to Glasgow

 

From London couldn’t be easier. The West Coast rail line is fast, with Virgin's cool Pendolino trains whizzing up and down to and from London Euston several times a day. Journey time is generally less than five hours. First Class includes meals and drinks (weekends is a restricted service), free wifi for the whole journey, and newspapers. For fares see the website.

 

There's still a sleeper service out of Euston for an overnight journey, arriving Glasgow 7am, every night except Saturday, operated by Scotrail.

 

Flying is still simple. Easyjet’s first ever route was to Glasgow and now all five London airports have a variety of services throughout the day, although Ryanair goes to Prestwick, a good 30 miles away (but then again it will occasionally get you there for less than £10).

 

OK. WE’RE HERE.

All you really need to know is three areas: the West End (around Byres Road) is the studenty-prosperous bohemian area, Merchant City is reinvented cool, and the city centre – very lively!

 

Don’t bother driving unless you’re heading out to the countryside. Taxis are plentiful, there’s a subway system which because it’s just one circle is known as the Clockwork Orange (guess what colour the trains are) but most places are actually walkable in the city centre.

 

If you’ve never been before, then Glasgow now has its own hop-on-hop-off bus tour from whose open top the city is slowly revealed, starting and finishing in George Square, the city centre’s grand piazza.

 

STAY WHERE?

The city's newest five star residence is The Blythswood Hotel, occupying the historic former HQ of the Scottish RAC in Blythswood Square, better known many years ago for ladies of the night! Now, it's smart and cool, and the hotel is very much a part of the 'new' Glasgow.

 

The exterior is listed, grand and imposing, one of the finest in the city, but inside, the decor has been transformed (there are still references to the building's illustrious motoring history - photographs of departures to Monte Carlo and so on) and the bedrooms are state of the art comfortable, with all the boxes ticked for modernity and style.Tartan is now definitely 'out' in modern Scottish Hotels, and the design here uses newly commissioned Harris Tweed, in muted colours, very effectively.

 

The restaurant on the ground floor is currently the fashionable choice for the city's demi-monde, and the spacious public areas and bars are well populated at the weekends.

 

Outside the city centre, there's a romantic weekend to be had in the West End; leafy, quiet and just 20 minutes from the airport.

 

Ken McCullough, who went on to create the Malmaison Chain and the Columbus in Monaco opened the UK’s first boutique hotel here, in 1986, at One Devonshire Gardens, by converting a finely restored Victorian townhouse at No 1. Then he bought No 2, then No 3 and then…..No 5. (Which meant that to circumnavigate No 4, guest breakfasts, and room service, had to go via the front street or the back alley. And it’s not always dry in Glasgow.)

 

It’s now in the hands of a group who not only bought No 4, but regard it as their “de luxe” outpost, and called it Hotel du Vin at One Devonshire Gardens, a mouthful indeed but a clear explanation of where and what it is. 

 

The welcome is warm, on arrival a wee dram of single malt is offered in a silver quaich, the traditional whisky cup, and the staff smile and chat away as if you’re returning home. They’re all smart and sassy, every one of them.

 

The rooms are intimate and sexy, modish dark purple velvets, opulent hand-made furniture, and soft, plush furnishings in strong, sophisticated hues. The rooms don’t have numbers, but are named after wines. The Hartenberg (South Africa) is high-ceilinged and spacious, having once been a perfectly proportioned drawing room overlooking the city’s Great Western Road. Now, taking pride of place in front of an open fire is a free-standing cast-iron roll top bath, just a few feet from a modern four poster.

 

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An audacious stairwell, cut through the floor, takes you down to another capacious room, a former coal cellar by all accounts, where a double power shower lies in wait, not that you’ll need it as the bath, is just too, too tempting.

 

The other rooms vary but are all beautifully well-appointed, with multi-channel entertainment systems, wi-fi and a mini bars stocked with fine wines and champagne. Room service is instant – hot toast for breakfast, late night snacks (and I mean late – 3 am!) substantial.

 

Hotels are about staff, and here they’re charming, pleasant, professional and friendly. We were engaged in conversation at every turn, by smart young kids who’ve got experience beyond their years, keen to help make your stay memorable, and veterans who know what they’re talking about.

 

The amenities include a gym and sports club which can arrange anything from golf to fishing to shooting - the property's on the main route out to the Highlands - and to get you started rooms come complete with putter and hole which shoots your ball back. Should you ever get it in. Ahem. At the other end of the health spectrum is a cleverly designed gazebo for cigar smokers - "the Bothy" - where no matter the weather, is pleasantly comfortable, thanks to a clever warm air system.

 

The inhouse restaurant is called ‘The Bistro' but is no such thing, it's Michelin-Star-in-waiting, of that there can be no doubt. Executive Chef Paul Tamburrini has been given carte blanche to create a menu that ranges from "foie gras sandwich" (three different kinds, one held in paper thin slivers of dried potato) sweetened with an apricot bean puree via 24 hour slow roasted lamb and whole native lobster - or a Lanark Blue Cheese Souffle - to a light, airy dessert menu where the siphons, foams, souffles and infusions explode on the tongue. It's a well sourced, well balanced menu of fine, exemplary ingredients. The room is classic dark wood countered by shining white napery and gleaming silver where two sommeliers will guide you through a suitably adventurous wine list, given the name of the property. For the cost conscious, there a front page listing ‘bargains' mostly under £20.

 

The whole place adds up to something quite remarkable. It's not only an improvement on the original, it's the best element in a small, well respected chain, which makes it very special. And if that means you're with someone special then it's about the most romantic place you could be.

 

REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL, 1,2,3...

(1) Art and culture are big in Glasgow and there's no shortage of literature and online help to make sure you find it. There's a festival just about every month. Of the permanent displays, try Kelvingrove and the new Transport Museum (designed by Zaha Hadid), or the People's Palace (look out for the former Templeton Carpet Factory beside it, a copy of the Doge's Palace in Venice) or the new(ish) Science Centre down by the River Clyde. Best of all is the tiny wee Tenement House in Buccleuch Street which illustrates perfectly how people used to live here.

 

(2) The Barras, formerly a flea market is still there in name, and worth a visit on a Sunday morning. Little on offer that you might actually want, but loud and cheery all the same. The adjoining ballroom of the same name now hosts every big name there is in modern music.

 

(3) Glasgow used to boast over a hundred cinemas, now they're mostly gone, but keep an eye on what's on at the Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) or the CCA.

 

LET'S DO LUNCH

Cheap

Glaswegians do love a pie and as long as you make sure to catch the grease as it dribbles, you'll find little round meat pies everywhere from The City Bakeries to Greggs (sandwiches too!). Joking aside, if you do want a taste of old Glasgow try The University Café on Byres Road for snacks and cheap lunches on shared tables.

 

Not so cheap

In a city dominated to the point of obsession by curry, it's difficult to stand out but the champion of recent years is Mother India on Sauchiehall Street which has now spawned the Mother India Café (opp Kelvingrove) and several Wee Curry Shops, to be found around Byres Road. All excellent.

 

Not cheap but worthwhile

The city centre institution that is Rogano's Oyster Bar soldiers on despite stiff, modern competition on its doorstep, Royal Exchange Square, where the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art has spawned a host of pavement cafes and bars. Decorated in the style of The Queen Mary (built on the Clyde) it offers up classic dishes in bar and set lunches. It's a class act.

WHAT'S YOURS?

The city is packed with pubs, most of which have improved from the old days of simply drinking to get drunk. In the city centre The Horseshoe Bar in Drury Street is one of the few surviving gin palaces and still very popular, while down in Stockwell Street, The Scotia is where Billy Connolly started his folk career. In Merchant City, cool new bars abound, one of the first and best being Babbity Bowster, but there are plenty from which to choose around Candleriggs and the old Fruit Market.

 

More modern, seriously cool bars are The Butterfly & Pig, and Mama San's in Bath Street and Chinaski's in North Street, (beware there's no nameplate - it's beside the Koh-I-Noor Indian restaurant) serving sharp cocktails, draught Peroni, wine and snacks both inside and out on a tidy little terrace. Very now.

 

In the West End proper, head for Ashton Lane, a small cobbled street of bars, cafes and restaurants or try any of the pubs in Byres Road from Tennents' mostly male clientele to the Oran Mor, a converted church which does a ‘play, a pie and a pint' on Saturday mornings for £10. Nearby, three pubs prove that you can modernize without going down the gastro route. The Ben Nevis, The Lismor, and the Three Judges all serve excellent beer, food and great atmosphere.

 

DINNER IS SERVED

Glasgow's predeliction for curry or fish and chips has meant that healthy diets are relatively new. But as far back as 1971 there appeared a beacon of quality and integrity, The Ubiquitous Chip, opened by the late Ronnie Clydesdale who foreswore "no chips", all the more ironic since the entire city came to know it as "The Chip".

 

Before anyone else had even thought about locally sourced foods, Ronnie was buying Ayrshire landed cod, Oban Mussels, Lanark Blue Cheese, a novel approach that nearly four decades later is de rigeur for everyone who cares what they eat.

 

The quality and range of local ingredients is unrivalled anywhere. Caledonian Ice Cream and Vegetarian Haggis have been served from day one, but the menu expounds a contemporary, confident grasp of modern ingredients.
Starters of Pig Cheek atop a truffled potato omelette and Chanterelles, or Cauliflower and Scotch Bonnet Chilli Crème Caramel with a Cairnsmore Wafer are followed by Scrabster Landed Ling on Clapshot with Chillied Roasted Red Pepper and Crispy Seaweed and Eight Ways With Rhubarb. In among the aged steaks and top grade beef, vegetarian dishes are treated respectfully and aren't just "alternatives" The extensive lists of malt whiskies, wines and stickies will keep you occupied for a while too, either reading or sampling.

 

DRIVE BY
For an hour or so...

Head out to Pollock Park where you'll find The Burrell Collection, the city's treasure trove donated by Sir William Burrell, descendant of a wealthy shipping family, where 9,000 works range from Degas to ancient China in the greatest magpie collection of all time.

 

For the day...

Loch Lomond is best viewed by car from the eastern shore, the main road to the Highlands shoots up the Western side past Tarbert and Luss and gets very busy, but Balmaha can be a more leisurely day out. Hire a boat and you'll find peace and tranquility just an hour away from the city, as "weegies" have been doing for years.

 

Overnight...

Well, there's always Edinburgh.

 

Further reading
VisitScotland's new "locals guide" and "Scotland the Best" by Peter Irvine. Nobody should ever visit Scotland without a copy.

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