Glasgow

Although many southerners seem a bit wary of Glasgow's rough reputation, the city is actually renowned for its friendliness. Over the past ten or fifteen years Glasgow had given itself a bit of a transformation and is now buzzing with life and energy. With three universities to choose from, it's also a great place to be a student.

Pubs
Glasgow has more pubs than you'll know what to do with. If you're based in the west end, a jaunt down Byres Road, Ashton Lane or Great Western Road makes for a good pub crawl. Try out the Basement Bar, good for drinks and DJs and conveniently close to the subway, Curlers, or Hubbards. On Woodlands Road don't miss Uisge Betha (just to be confusing, it's pronounced something like isk-ke-ba) and the Halt Bar, which mixes live music with cheap drinking. Sauchiehall Street is packed with bars - some notables are Nice'n'sleazy, where you'll find a band playing almost every night of the week and some nice, cheap food, plus a pretty great jukebox and the Variety Bar - dark, cool, and usually quite crowded. Right beside central station you'll find the Solid Rock Cafe - not one for anyone with delicate ears.
Head to King Street for the 13th Note - good bands, good food and relatively cheap drink - and pop across the road to Mono, which has its very own record shop inside as well.

Clubs
Thursdays and Tuesdays tend to be big student promo nights in Glasgow, but you're guaranteed to find a cheap night out any time outside the weekend.The ABC does a good mix of chart-type alternative music and classic indie, while the Art School is always a good place to pose with an excellent soundtrack and is also host to Utter Gutter, the best alternative gay night in town.
Classic Grand has a bit of everything but its main big nights on Friday and Saturday focus on all that is rock and metal. The Arches is a must if you're in to dance music with nights like the Slam-helmed Pressure plus the fantastic Death Disco.In the Cathouse you'll find classic rock, punk, and metal on floor one and newer rock, emo and the like of floor two - plus PVC clad folk all over the place. It's loud and a lot of fun.

Optimo at Subclub is a Glasgow institution - and if you like it try out Killer Kitsch at the Buff Club too. Woodside social club is home to the funky Superfly while Nice'N'Sleazy's late-night opening from Thursday to Sunday ranges from indie, to French rock'n'roll, to banging beats.There are also some good one-offs - Club Noir is the world's biggest burlesque club and hits the Carling Academy every couple of months.And if you're after some cheap and cheery cheesy pop, head for The Garage or Campus but be prepared for sticky floors and the 'meat market' feel. And the Flying Duck, on Renfield Street, hosts a good variety of unique nights celebrating girl groups, 7" singles and more.

Venues
The Barrowlands - that's the Barras to locals - still has the feel of an old-school dance hall and has great sound and a fine history of gigs - everyone from the Beastie Boys to Arcade Fire has played here.Newer venues likely to host bigger bands are the Carling Academy and ABC - both have their charms but be prepared for the shocking drinks prices. You'll find a lot of local and more alternative acts in the Barfly and Classic Grand, and King Tuts Wah Wah Hut is still one of the best places in the city to catch a gig. The 13th Note and Nice'n'sleazy do gigs almost every night, where you'll find some great emerging Glasgow talent. Oran Mor has attracted some good quirkier bands - Patrick Wolf and the Gossip amongst them. And for all your enormo-dome needs the SECC can hold thousands, but not, sadly, an atmosphere. Stereo on Renfield Lane and the Captain's Rest on Great Western Road are both fairly new venues which have already picked up a reputation for bringing in diverse acts, so keep an eye out for their listings.



Glasgow in general is not an unsafe place but there are some areas that it's best to avoid and, like anywhere else it's generally advised not to walk around on your own at night.
Some of the parks - Kelvingrove in the west-end is one - have a reputation for being dangerous at night so don’t stay out during the winter after 5pm.
The Gallowgate, home to the Barras, can get a bit dodgy at the time gigs let out so be careful.
Some areas with a lot of student accomodation, like Maryhill, are best tackled in twos or threes until you get used to it.
But at night and weekends there's a pretty hefty police presence in the city centre so any trouble that does erupt is easy to sort.

Glasgow's missing some good music shops but there are still a few around if you want to avoid HMV and Virgin - although there are two of each. As well as Fopp, there's Avalanche Records, right beside Queen Street Station, has a huge second hand section as well as all the new releases you could hope for and also makes a point of selling vinyl. Mono in Kings Court is a record shop inside a pub, no complaints there. And Missing Records under central station has some hidden gems in its second hand selection - plus its right beside Tickets Scotland for gig tickets too. Finally Oxfam Music on Byres Road is a must for vinyl junkies looking to grab a bargain.In terms of clothes, you'll find everything you'd expect from the high street between Buchanan Galleries, Buchanan Street, Sauchiehall Street and Argyle Street. The west end is home to a few cute boutiques and second hand stores if you're looking for something different - try Starry Starry Night, Pink Poodle, Felix and Oscar and Bolshie to start with.

Apart from the obvious ones - Franz Ferdinand, Mogwai, Belle and Sebastian, Biffy Clyro, Sons and Daughters... the list goes on - Glasgow is teeming with bands who you might spot, or hear playing, any given day. Here's just a short list of some locals: Errors, Take a Worm for a Walk Week, Union of Knives, Futuro, the 1990s, How to Swim, We Are the Physics, Titus Gein, the Fortunate Sons, Danananananaykroyd, Gay Against You... you get the picture.

Glasgow's population is over 600,000 making it the UK's fourth city.
The average temperature in January is a chilly 3.5 degrees. Brrr.

Glasgow's cathedral dates back to a small church, founded by St Mungo, in about AD550 but the one standing today dates back to about 1200.

John Logie Baird, inventor of the television, transmitted the first long-distance pictures on TV from Glasgow's Central hotel.

You can still visit the pub used in Trainspotting - it's called the Crosslands and it's on Queen Margaret Drive.