The Skinny Guide to Merchant City & Trongate

We've just published the 2023 edition of The Skinny Guide to Glasgow, so we've updated this guide to the Merchant City and Trongate. For more from our 2023 guide to the very best Glasgow has to offer, scroll on, or pick up a copy from venues across Glasgow... 

The lavish architecture of the Merchant City points to the prosperity of Victorian-era Glasgow, a wealth that the city is just beginning to reckon with given it was built off the back of the slave trade. Today it's home to fashion boutiques and fancy cocktail bars. The streets of Trongate are more hardscrabble, but it’s here, in the neglected corners, that artists have made their home, with some of Glasgow’s most creative venues, most adventurous galleries and most-loved independent shops.

Food in Merchant City and Trongate

No trip to this part of town is complete without a stop at Paesano (94 Miller St), home of the tastiest Neopolitan-style pizzas in town. It’s by no means the only Italian joint in Merchant City, though. Glance down John Street – home to relaxed Italian cafe Osteria (no. 17), as well as The Italian Centre (no. 7) – on a particularly warm day and you might mistake it for Milan. For those who prefer pizza of the deep dish variety, Thundercat (86 Miller St) is introducing Glaswegians to hearty Chicago-style pizzas. 

Piece (100 Miller St) is Glasgow' best-loved sandwich place. Head around the corner to Sprigg (241 Ingram St) for a tasty range of freshly-made salad bowls. Glasgow institution Cafe Gandolfi (64 Albion St), serves up great local fare and arguably the best breakfast this side of the M8, but not far behind is bakehouse Singl-end (15 John St), a fave for weekend brunch. 

And if you're after a quick bite in this part of town there’s Shawarma King (113 King St), home of Glasgow’s (maybe Scotland’s) best kebab. 

Bars, gigs, and LGBTQ+ venues

Merchant City is at its most lively in the evening, but bars here can be pricy, so we’d point you in the direction of the more cheap(er) and cheerful boozers on the Merchant City periphery, like Strathduie Bar (3-5 Blackfriars St) and Babbity Bowster (16-18 Blackfriars St). 

Merchant City is home to Glasgow’s LGBTQ+ community, with gay bars peppered across it. Katie's Bar (17 John St), Delmonicas (68 Virginia St) and The Underground (6A John St) all guarantee a fun pre-club atmosphere while AXM (90 Glassford St) and Polo Lounge (84 Wilson St) are the big destinations where you can dance the night away. The pick of the LGBTQ+ hangouts, however, might be The Riding Room (58 Virginia St), which is loved for its wild cabaret nights. Also look out for events at Bonjour (37-45 Saltmarket), a queer workers' co-op bar and community space that's home to some of the most forward-thinking nights in the city.

In Trongate you’ll find Mono (12 Kings Ct, King St), an awesome bar with an ethos of serving delicious plant-based scran and tasty beers, and hosting great gigs. Closer to the Clyde you’ll find two even more well-established Glasgow boozers: ​​The Clutha (169 Stockwell St) and The Scotia (112 Stockwell St). Both usually have some form of toe-tapping live music in the evenings. Music also runs through the veins of Maggie May’s (60 Trongate), and the Trongate is also home to the Tron Theatre Company (63 Trongate), one of the most important producers of contemporary theatre in Scotland.

Indie shops

Ace indie record shop Monorail Music is located inside Mono, where you’ll often find co-owner Stephen McRobbie of The Pastels behind the counter. Comic book nuts, meanwhile, can find a great selection of comics and graphic novels around the corner at A1 Toys (31 Parnie St).

Across the arcade from Mono is vintage shop Mr Ben (6 Kings Court), which has been keeping Glasgow scenesters stylish for decades. There are also two other great second-hand clothing shops next door – Minted and West Vintage – and within spitting distance is The City Retro Fashion (41 King St), making this corner of Glasgow a fashionista’s delight.