Glasgow's South Side by Jo Stewart

Jo Stewart is Head of Marketing at DF Concerts. The Glasgow based promoters are behind such international events as the T in the Park music festival, T on the Fringe, and a constant variety of other top level gigs, concerts and events including the Glasgow City Council sponsored Radiance Festival of Light.

 

The first time I came to Glasgow was to go house hunting with my parents when I was eight. Coming from a village in the Borders with one little shop, Glasgow seemed a big and industrial place even back then. Aside from a gap of a year or so in London and a year in Edinburgh I have lived in Glasgow overall now for twenty-two years. Despite not being born in Glasgow, I consider myself a true Glaswegian as it feels like home, and that’s why I came back from London and chose to live here. It’s where I feel safe. Here we can dress up to the nines in clothes from the fantastic local shops for a night out, but equally I can chill out in my old favourites, but whatever the look I can go out and about and still feel comfortable.

 

I used to share a student flat in Sauchiehall Street with five others though, and went to Glasgow Caledonian University to study Nursing Studies. I now live in the South Side of Glasgow in Langside, which is near to Pollokshields where I went to school.

 

The main road at Battlefield is my local hub, and it’s a really emerging and vibrant area. We now have a Beanscene for Saturday morning coffees with the papers. Beanscene is a great Glasgow coffee house with branches in all the best areas of town. For the evening Heraughty’s bar, The Clock Micro-brewery (again a cool hang out but somewhere I can wear what I like) and the fabulous Battlefield Rest, an Italian restaurant in an old Victorian bus station - where they do the best buffalo tomatoes and red wine - are great local places.

 

My favourite place to eat though is The Greek Golden Kebab. Run by the Kyriacou family it does the best moussaka outside of Greece! Its over-the-top décor and tiny interior make this my personal top restaurant in the area. I do love the Brooklyn Café and Shimla Pinks too. For food shopping we have Deli 1901 in Shawlands as well as the local supermarket, fish merchants and organic fruit shop. Then for more fancy things there is the fantastic Catherine Henderson Interiors and Bumble South Side toy store in Pollokshields. All in all there are some great places nearby, which attract folk from all over the city.  The Langside area is also really beautiful architecturally. The Battlefield Monument marks the place where Mary, Queen of Scots suffered her final defeat in 1568. It has a stone lion on the top and four eagles preparing to fly. I always pass it on my way home and love its prominent position outside Queen’s Park. There are the most fabulous houses and apartments over looking the Park and living in a tenement flat, Queen’s Park is our garden. We feed the ducks, fly the kite, sit in the summer and relax on the grass, go regularly to the Farmer’s Market and get the award-winning ice cream from Queen’s Park Café. Glasgow is blessed with many parks, but Queen’s Park on our South Side is my favourite.

 

It is still mostly tenement flats throughout the area, but all the gardens are well kept and there is a really strong sense of community amongst the predominantly young population. I think this is because the prices are lower than Glasgow’s West End. Many of Langside’s tenement flats retain their original tiled stairwells, huge, beautiful windows and high ceilings, synonymous with Glasgow. I wanted a large dining-kitchen and uniquely in Glasgow could get that within my budget in Langside.

 

I genuinely love the convenience and vibe of the area, there is a safe suburban feel but it is only ten minutes by bus or train over the river into town for work. It’s also where my closest friends stay. We all moved away when we were younger, but have come back to the South Side again! Which I suppose says it all: it’s home and I think the people are the greatest, funniest people in the world.