The nights are fair drawing in and it looks like we’ve reached the end of yet another miserable summer. I thought at this point, just before it fades completely, I’d write a wee bit about al fresco Glasgow, before we all have to retreat to our caves to hibernate for the winter.
When we actually get a bit of sunshine in Glasgow, it can be a wonderful place. It’s full of beautiful parks and wonderful architecture, and makes the place look great on a sunny day. Walking, jogging or cycling down the banks of the Clyde is a great way to spend a nice day, and more and more city establishments are adopting the pavement cafe culture. All of this almost makes the place feel like a modern cosmopolitan European city; almost.
Glasgow, however, has a number of elements which don’t really help to make it a great place to live, never mind to visit in the summer months. As much as the aforementioned parks and Clydeside are an attractive place to sit and enjoy the sun on a pleasant day, they do create a strange oxymoron based on one Glasgow’s favourite pastimes, alcohol consumption. Now, on a nice day, the idea of a wee bottle of plonk or a few nice beers whilst sitting enjoying the sun in the park with a wee bite to eat (or even without!) sounds like an enjoyable way to spend your time. Well, not in Glasgow you don’t my friend! The public places drinking ban is here to spoil your fun. Don’t get me wrong, the drinking ban was brought in for ‘admirable reasons’, but let’s be honest it really doesn’t work in the way it’s supposed to. Visit any pleasant outdoor space on a nice day and chances are that there’s going to be neds, not giving a crap, and flaunting the drinking ban without any reprisal.
So, here’s the reality of situation, the only people that are losing out here are you and me, folk who fancy a quiet wee drink in the sun. Thank you Glasgow City Council. Ok, so what’s the alternative then? I mentioned earlier that as a city we seem to be adopting the European pavement cafe culture, well to an extent anyway. I honestly don’t think it works very well here. Most of our pubs and restaurants weren’t designed to have outside space and the pavements don’t really accommodate the idea. It works ok in some places, but in others it looks very much tacked on and looks like an afterthought designed to try to make the place look more sophisticated. It doesn’t.
I love sitting outside for a beer. I love doing it in Glasgow. However, there are places it just doesn’t work, and I’m not just talking you spit and sawdust establishments (which frankly I prefer), but the outside tables in more salubrious establishments don’t seem to work. If you visit European cities where the whole pavement cafe culture really works, one of the first things you notice in is that the outdoor and indoor spaces to flow quite well together and you always seem to be attended to quickly by staff who are used to working the space. Very rarely does it work like this in Glasgow, most of the outside space tends to be in front (i.e. out the door and alongside) or actually (as is the case on St Vincent Street and Buchanan Street) a distance away from the place itself.
It’s also a bit of a class thing when it comes to outside drinking or eating spaces here. It’s seen as a middle-class pursuit eating and drinking al fresco here, where as that prejudice just doesn’t exist on the continent. I suppose though, that’s the thing about here, class matters. Of course it does in other European cities as well, but drinking and eating habits are defined a lot more closely by class here rather than elsewhere.
Maybe that’s unlikely to change, with the bottom line being that in a lot of establishments that if you want outside space, you’ll need to just make do with standing by the wall mounted ashtray. If you fancy sitting watching the world go by whilst enjoying some food and drink, then you’re probably going to have to pay handsomely for the privilege. Personally I don’t see many reasonably priced licensed cafe’s with pleasant outside space popping up, as I think that the assumption is that there wouldn’t be the demand for it. Which is a bit of a shame as I think that it might be a nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon, with a couple of reasonably priced light bites and a few drinks with attentive service and a pleasant atmosphere. Alas, I don’t think it’ll ever quite work here, as in a lot of places it’s about trying to be something they’re not and losing their Glaswegian identity.
If you want a wee recommendation from me for a way to whittle away a Saturday afternoon next summer, go to the Clutha. Seats and tables out front with a view of the Clyde and the best kept beer garden secret out the back. It may not be ‘cafe’ culture, but it certainly is a very Glaswegian way to enjoy a drink on a summer day.
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