Glasgow's warm beating heart

Dominic Roskrow champions Scotland's second city

Many months ago, in one of my first editorials for this magazine, I compared the relevant merits of Glasgow and Edinburgh, and concluded that while I loved them both, Edinburgh would get the edge if I was forced to choose one over the other.

But in recent months I have spent a great deal of time in Glasgow, and slowly and surely its charms have seduced me – to the point that it's taken my personal number one spot. The two cities are very different, of course. But in terms of personality, Glasgow is the affable and bloke at the end of the bar, a touch gruff at first, but a constant source of entertainment and the perfect company for the evening.

Glasgow is gritty, energetic, lived in, very Scottish. It has a beating heart like no other city in Britain.

If Edinburgh's history stretches back through kings and castles, Glasgow's is about industry and endeavour. It has the better football teams, the better bars and the better modern music.

Recently my other magazine, Whisky Magazine, staged a major two day event in George Square, right in the heart of the city. We were welcomed with open arms by the city. Its leaders held a civic reception for us and we sensed that the city felt a genuine pride in the fact that it had been chosen for the world's greatest celebration of whisky.

Glasgow is an industrial city typical of northern Britain but with two distinctions – its transportation systems represented by the docks and the large rail network; and the celebrated architecture...

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• By : Dominic Roskrow
• In : Editor's View
• Issue : 17
• Page : 3
• Words : 564