BACK LIST
and rightly so. An amazing display of exhibits collected by the old-time shipping magnate.
The Salon Cinema in Vinnicombe Street is a small bu lovable one-screen cinema. Admission is a bargain at £1.50.
The GET in Rose Street is Glasgow’s arthouse cinema. No smoking. a great atmosphere.
Nico's 379 Sauchiehall Street was Glasgow’s first French-style brasserie and originator ofa thousand trends. Nice when quiet.- murderous at weekends.
Epicures 46 West Nile Street is a fine delicatessen downstairs and equally fine Polish cafe upstairs. As yet largely undiscovered.
ANIMALS Cameron Park Alexandria —- near Loch Lomond. Alexandria (0389) 5721 1. Open 10am—5pm Mon—Fri. Adult £1 .50. Child£l . under 5s free. What used to be the Bear Park is now an all-purpose park for the whole family which features 3 Childrens‘ Zoo. Woolly Monkeys. Sea Lions and Pony Trails. There are also boat rides. a picnic area. a funfair and model railway as well as gift shops and a Beer Garden. AFRICA The David Livingstone Centre Blantyre (0698) 823140 is the birthplace of Scotland‘s most famous explorer. As well as tours of the house. there are exhibitions on mining. education. textiles and agriculture. plus some splendid gardens including an adventure playground. tearoom. picnic areas and free parking. The centre is open Mon-Sat 10am—6pm and Sun 2—6pm. Admission £1 to the whole centre. 25p to the grounds only. Child. OAP and Unemployed half price. Buses from Buchanan Street bus terminal or Anderston Cross: take the Hamilton bus either via Bothwell or Blantyre. Bothwell and Blantyre stops are both about 10 mins from the centre. By train from Glasgow Central to Blantyre. BUSES Probably one of the best ways ofseeing Glasgow is from the top of an open-topped bus. City bus tours run daily from St Enoch Square at 2pm and visit all the city’s best known landmarks. Adult £3. Child. OAP and Strathclyde Travel Card holders £2. It‘s best to book: Travel Centre. St Enoch Square or any Glasgow branch of AT. Mays. Enquiries phone 226 4826. An alternative coach tour leaves from North Hanover Street, next to Queen Street Station. Mon—Fri at 11am. On Mon. Wed and Fri it visits the People‘s Palace and on Tue and Thurs the Burrell Collection. £3.
BOATS That old Glasgow favourite, A
The Waverley. the last sea-going paddle steamer in the world is still cruising its way around the Firth of Clyde. Sailings leave from the Waverley Terminal. Anderston Quay on Fridays. Saturdays and Sundays to places like Greenock. Dunoon. Rothesay and the Isle of Bute. Prices range from
£5.95—£1 1.95 for a day trip — Children under 16 can travel
36 The List 25 July — 7 August .
anywhere for £2.50. Phone 041 221 8152 for details.
BEER GARDENS One of Glasgow‘s finest is at The Wickets Hotel Fortrose (Partick) — so named because of its proximity to the West of Scotland cricket ground at Hamilton Crescent. Open to non-residents all day there is also the added incentive of satellite TV indoors should the weather become inclement. In total contrast. The Devil’s Advocate, Custom House Quay. puts tables outside in good weather on what is part of the Clyde Walkway. Facing onto the Clyde this watering-hole gives a rather different view of the river and the trains approaching Central Station on the nearby bridge. If the view looks familiar. it’s because it stood in for Moscow in the BBC play An Englishman Abroad.
CAEES The Kardomah 123 Buchanan Street occasionally puts some tables out on the street on sunny days where. ifyou’re quick. you can have a coffee and listen to the assembled buskers. bible thumpers etc who inhabit this pedestrian precinct. Dabbilty Dowster in Blackfriars Street also has an outdoor patio where a coffee. tea or something stronger can be enjoyed.
CANALS The W Ferry Queen. rebuilt and run by volunteers from theForth and Clyde Canal Society makes trips between Glasgow Road Bridge and Cadder on Saturdays. Sundays and Bank Holidays only — apart from charters. The return journey takes roughly 1V2 hours and prices are
£1 .50 for adults. £1 for OAPs and 50p for kids. The Glasgow Road Bridge is on the A803 to Kirkintilloch. by the Stables Restaurant and buses from stances 8—12. Buchanan Street Station stop here. For information tel ()41 772 1620.
CATHEDRALS This year Glasgow Cathedral celebrates its 850th birthday — the first home of Glasgow University the cathedral has switched religions more than once and it was once declared that it was as meritorious for pilgrims to travel to Glasgow as to Rome itself. It is open to the public as well as holding services for its own congregation. There will be summer organ recitals at the Cathedral on 4. 11. 18 and 25 Aug at 7.30pm, tickets £1 .50. concessions £1 . DELIS Ifyou want to go on a picnic or just sit in the park then a good .delicatesscn is a must. Guy‘s (100 Byres Road) is one of the best with an excellent selection of pate’s, salads and cold meats. Also recommended
i is Epicures 46 West Nile Street. — ' good for cheese. and the Italian
orientated Fazzi Bros 67 Cambridge Street. The American Delicatessen 380 Byres Road makesa good change and is especially good for gooey concoctions such as Chocolate Fudge Cakes.
DRINKING Even though it‘s summer, no doubt some of you will be hastening off to low bars to while the time away —if you must and if you
have genuinely worked up a thirst walking about in the summer. then some pubs are better than others— light and airy rather than dark and smoky. Fixx that well-known basement bar is large and bright and airy- ideal for a swift refreshment after a tour of the shops’as is the recently refurbished Nile West Nile Street. now decorated in marble and Arabian draping style. The Exchequer once saved my life after an exhaustive tour of Kelvingrove Art Gallery with the restorative quality of its Fosters and has a door which bears the legend ‘Beer Garden‘ although I’ve never been beyond it. Ifyou are the type to go drinking in the open air— I know it’s anti-social. but we all do it - then Oddbins with its bags of ice is still the place for your beer and wine requirements — branches at Byres Road. Woodlands Road and Hope Street. Ifyour taste runs to exotic beers. then the quaintly named Raymondo Vino in Argyle Street and handily placed for Kelvingrove Park has a selection of beers and lagers from countries as diverse as India and Japan. lfa nice Sunday happens to occur leaving you sunbathing and thirsty when once you would have had to suffer— salvation is at hand. Pythagoras’ Off Licence is (whisper it) open on Sundays. ‘Nuffsaid. keep it quiet. EATING Easy to get ripped off in the summer when main street cafes and restaurants are rubbing their hands at the gullibility and fat wallets ofthe .holidaymaker— but there is an alternative. There are places of refreshment where the hungry can get fed for very little. The Grosvenor Cale in Ashton Lane — no main meals. but the best cafe’ in the city— and cheap with it. Hidden up a wee lane off busy Renfield Street is the Horseshoe. Not only does this splendid Victorian pub have the longest bar in Europe and one of the most drinkable pints of heavy in Glasgow. it also has a simply wonderful 3-course lunch for £1 .20— the quality is such that you would happily pay double. FISH Sea World at the Beach Park Irvine (a 40 min journey on the Ayr train from Glasgow Central on the hour and 35 mins past) offers the chance ofan undersea adventure without getting wet. All manner of sea creatures can be seen in natural setting in this new and unusual attraction. Open 10am—9pm. Adult £1.60. Child/OAP 80p. Telephone (0294) 31 1414. FAMOUS PEOPLE Ifyou‘re in Glasgow for the day. why not spend some time star-spotting. Even TV and Pop personalities come out to play now and again. When it‘s warm the odd BBC presenter can be spotted having a lunchtime bask in the Botanic Gardens opposite the Queen Margaret Drive studios and if
'you have the pennies. the Ubiquitous
Chip in Ashton Lane is another ' media favourite — the wine cellar alone is worth a visit! The West End in general is hoaching with stars of
' msmrsn’s GUIDE '
stage. screen. and concert hall. Spot Robbie Coltrane cruising up Great Western Road in an outsized American Limousine. see Clare Grogan do her shopping in Byres Road. see stars of Para Handy buy their fruit and veg in Boots ’n’ Fruits (Great Western Road). Nico’s (Sauchiehall Street) and The Rock Garden (Queen Street) still attract the odd pop star and ex-pop star where the game is to make a point Of not knowing who they are. GARDENS Pollok Demonstration Garden established in 1975 is part of Pollok Country Park. home of the Burrell Collection. Spread over 2 acres in a walled area next to Pollok House. the demonstration garden is of interest to the professional and amateur gardener alike. Examples of growing fruit. vegetables. bushes. flowers of every description are on show as well as ideas on landscaping, artistic paving etc. An absolute must for anyone interested in gardening. Open Mon—Thurs 8am—4pm, Fri 8am—3pm and at weekends Sam—6.30pm. On 9 Aug the Garden will host a Family Day featuring barbecue and entertainments. pony rides. gardening advice and live music. Free. The Botanic Gardens (corner of Queen Margaret Drive and Streat Western Road is vastly popular with West Enders— the first hint of sunshine and out they come, making the Botanic Gardens one of the busiest parks in the city. The hothouses. such as the famous Klbhle Palace. home of some rather exotic and lovely plants and without a doubt the most atmospheric and beautiful concert hall in the city- sometimes.
HDUSES Upper Colquhoun Street, Helensburgh. Off A814/B832, 23 miles North West of Glasgow. Tel Helensburgh (0436) 3900. Open daily lpm-Spm (last entry 4.30pm) £1 (50p children). Take train to Helensburgh from Queen Street Station. Then it’s a 3/4 mile uphill walk! (Taxi approx £1). The greatest' example of Glasgow’s most famous architects domestic work. Built for Walter W. Blackie, the Glasgow publisher in 1902. the gardens are now being restored to Blackie’s design - in keeping with the unity of design that features so strongly in the house and in all of Mackintosh’s style. Visit the Glasgow School of Art. Renfrew Street 041 332 9797 for a stunning example of Mackintosh’s civic architecture.
The Tenement House 145 Buccleuch Street. 041 3330183. Open daily 2—5pm. Adult £1 .20 (children 60p). Life in turn-of-the-century Glasgow. Two-roomed flat representing the lifestyle oftenement living that characterised the city — preserved as it was when lived in by one family for fifty years (complete with original box-beds).
THE COSMOPOLITAN ABC OF GLASGOW CONTINUED NEXT ISSUEI!