After four months of not being able to go to Glasgow due to Lockdown, I wondered how it is nowadays, particularly for nightlife. Curiosity pushed me to drive there and walked around the City Centre at the weekend, with my hubby in tow, as usual, doubled up as my bodyguard, haha!
The roads going around George Square were closed off, so we parked a little further. It was just past 7 pm when we got there, and the Square was reasonably busy but not as active as I thought it would be. Four or five months ago, this place would be heaving with people for a weekend night out.
There were quite a few people on the benches, and they were observing the social distancing rule as they sat away from each other.
From George Square, we headed towards Queen Street Train Station, currently under significant renovation, and I’m so glad to see it coming on so beautifully. People were required to wear masks before they go inside the station, and there were sanitisation fountains dotted by each entrance.
We continued our walk through Dundas Lane and out to the top of Buchanan Street towards the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. I was amazed at how lovely the area looked without the usual daily crowd of people that filled up from top to bottom of the street.
Briefly, we walked on to Sauchiehall Street and turned right to West Nile Road towards Cineworld. The Intersection there was not busy with cars nor people, compared to pre-Lockdown times.
We walked back down West Nile Road and passed by a few restaurants and pubs that were open. I peeped in through the open doors of a couple of restaurants, and one of them, the Amalfi Italian restaurant, had screens in between the tables. Maybe we could try that one in a few weeks once we’re more confident eating out.
Glasgow Central Train Station was reasonably busy as we did our nosey about and went inside the grand station. Same as Queen Street Station, you have to wear masks before you go inside, and there were some sanitisation fountains by the entrance too. I noticed a couple of men fumbling through their pockets for their masks as they rushed to the station.
We carried on walking towards the River Clyde passing through Wellington Street, which is one of the Financial hubs in the City Centre with some big firms such as the Central Exchange, JP Morgan, British Telecom (BT), and many others.
The architecture in this area is quite something, a concoction of old sandstone to modern glass-made designs, the sight of which makes you awestruck at the first visit, especially if you’re into this type of beauty.
We got to the riverside footpath and into the Tradeston Footbridge, also called the Squiggly Bridge over to where they’re currently building the new Barclays Bank European headquarters.
Most of our previous walks involved waters and greeneries, but this time, the River Clyde water with the backdrop of substantial magnificent architecture. It was such a beautiful sight that I would love to see every so often.
We continued walking by the riverside towards the Kingston Bridge and crossed back over to the City Centre. We went through the commercial area this time, passing by briefly at Argyle Street and then the bottom of Buchanan Street, where you can find various high street and designer shops.
There were many restaurants open, and it was very tempting to walk in for a meal. However, we didn’t feel safe and comfortable eating inside a restaurant yet. We were hungry by this time, so we settled for non-other than a takeaway Fish & Chips for me and a portion of Chips Only for my vegetarian buddy.
Typical me thinking of food, I was looking at restaurants while unbeknown to me, Tony was observing some pubs (although he gave up drinking alcohol over a year ago!). He told me later that he peeped through open doors of a few that we passed by during our walk and could see people inside, not observing the social distancing rules.
I guess it will be hard to be aware of the policies when you’re drunk, eh. I did notice some of the beer gardens (outside tables of pubs and restaurants), and yes, I could say there were distances between the table seatings but not sure if they were 2metres apart.
Could this mean a possibility of COVID 19 second wave? Time will tell, but what I noticed was that even though the City Centre was busy, it was not as active or packed with people as I thought it would be, at night time, and on the weekend.
The overall mood in the City, as I observed that night was contained vibrancy with an air of hope for more activities. There were a few young revellers who gave us thumbs up and said, ‘Welcome to Glasgow,’ probably thinking with my GoPro on, we were tourists!
Anyway, we headed back towards our car, passing by George Square, which was by then at 9:30 pm almost empty. It was still daylight at nearly 10 pm, so we decided to stop by at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, the oldest hospital in Glasgow opened in 1794. We parked nearby and walked to the buildings next to the hospital.
We were greeted with more eye-catching architecture with the magnificent Gothic-style Glasgow Cathedral nicely stood in between two equally stunning grand structures, the historic Glasgow Royal Infirmary to the left and the Scottish Baronial style St Mungo’s Museum of Religious Life and Arts, built-in 1989, to the right.
I always passed by this area whenever I went to Glasgow in the twenty years or so that I lived here in Scotland but never been up-close to them. They were terrific from outside, and except for the hospital building, which I’ve been in a few times, I could only imagine how beautiful inside the other two. I aim to go there soon, so watch this space!
But the discovery of the night for us was the Glasgow Necropolis, a Victorian cemetery, and gardens located behind the Cathedral grounds. I never heard nor noticed it before, but this peaceful and amazing place housed one of the oldest and largest cemeteries in Europe.
It had many impressive burial monuments and structures of traders and famous benefactors of the city of past years. We didn’t have much time to look around the grounds, but it sure is worth another visit. For the enthusiasts, they also do some tours and schedules of this is on their website.
We wrapped up our evening adventure by walking through the Cathedral grounds. Nope! We never encountered any ghost if you want to ask, haha! But what a fantastic experience in Glasgow we had that night!
Till then, have a great week! See you again next Wednesday.
P.S. If you like my post today, please subscribe below and feel free to share it away. Thank you.