Merchant City Festival, Glasgow

25 - 28 September 2008

Welcome to the Merchant City Festival 2008.

Expect great things and fun times in one of the very best festivals in our calendar.

Top Secret Glasgow aims to make sure you have the very best time out and about in Glasgow. The Merchant City Festival attracts tens of thousands of locals and visitors, all ready to enjoy the shows.

Top Secret Agents busied themselves last year, and we can now file our report, giving you tips about highlights to catch if you can. All based on our own thrills and laughs last year, an ace time comes your way!

We also want to make sure that locals and visitors don't waste any time during the festival. Our Agents will give you all the info you need so that you never waste time looking for somewhere to have a snack near your venues.

We want to make sure that chilled pint is to hand just when you need it, and a perfect meal is never far away.

Come with us for a fun weekend at the Merchant City Festival.

some of the best bits...

The Merchant City Festival takes place during the local autumn holiday weekend, this year from Thursday 25 to Sunday 28 September.

Here are some tips about events well worth checking out. Number one is AMAZING fun, and places are limited, as you'll see.

Get yourself onto the Alan Anderson Comedy Coach Tour. On a bus, clearly seats are in limited supply.

Please note these points:

• Sit on the top deck for the most fun
• Be prepared to join in - Mr Anderson takes no prisoners!
• Be ready to heckle - he's waiting for it
• Be ready to learn quite a lot. As the coach travels around, his knowledge of the off-beat and quirky shines through
• Remember your camera - this is a trip worth recording

In a similar style, Alan Anderson will conduct his Gallus Glasgow Comedy Walk. Again, his local knowledge and rapier wit clash to great effect. He's a blast, and his number of fans rightly keeps growing.

The Tron Theatre gives us the world premier of the new Ioanna Andeson's play Six Acts of Love.

Expect heart-wrenching and humour while Katherine comes to terms with being dumped for a younger model by her husband, while here Mum is diagnosed with dementia.

As ever, Tron Theatre will deliver a top notch show.

The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra perform in City Halls. This year at the Merchant City Festival Chief Conductor will lead a rousing evening that includes Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 'Choral'. City Halls was restored not long ago, and makes a super venue.

Warm and full of heart, Jenny Eclair shows up in The Tron Theatre with her popular hilarious show, 'Because I Forgot to Get a Pension' tour. Her lines hit home, leaving you rocking in the aisles.

A really cool, free event is the tour of Glasgow's past, built on tobacco and slavery. On Friday, a free guided walk is being run. A definite one to take in, if you can.

On Saturday from 2 - 4pm, the Ingram Street Shopping Day features lovely male and female models sitting in the windows. So you can oggle some gorgeous people - for nothing!

Last, but by no means least on our Top Secret choices of the Best Bits is the French market in Candleriggs.

There all four days of the festival, you can saunter around the stalls, breathing deeply to catch those glorious scents! Enjoy!

Of course, there are many other events to tickle your fancy over the four fun packed days of the featival. Find our more from the Merchant City Festival offical website.

on with the show...

What fun Top Secret Agents had at last years festival. Check out the video clip of the cheeky Alice and Alice.

They were just one of several street performers spotted around the Merchant City Festival over the weekend. And of course several musical acts kept the crowds entertained.

More will be here this year, doing exactly the same cool things.

taking a breather...

Then more fun was had exploring the best bars and restaurants in the Merchant City. Many are really close to the festival venues, but you might not have heard about them.

This report tells you about the very best offered in the Merchant City.

We hope you enjoy what you find as much as we do. In fact, why not send us a story about your Merchant City fun, and we'll publish your very own Top Secret pages on the web? What are you waiting for...

Here are the best places for:

• Grabbing a snack while you have a schedule to keep
• Relaxing with friends and a drink
• Pre-theatre dining
• Catching the true vibe of the Merchant City Festival

There and LOADS of places to try. But we're only interested in the very best - right here. So we don't give list after list of places for you to puzzle over. Rather we keep our reports lean, and keep your time best spent off having a quality time... whatever you decide.

time for a snack...

If you venture to St. Andrews in the Square , have a look in the cosy, golden-glowing Cafe Source in the basement.

They even have some outside tables for good weather, so its more than a basement cafe. Soup and sandwiches are fresh and yummy.

The cafe that lead the way for Merchant City regeneration is the fab Cafe Gandolfi.

Superb use of fresh Scottish produce, added to a dash of their very own style in a top notch dining space in the best 'just round the corner' location make this place a local fave.

You'll see why once you've been. A tip for Cafe Gandolfi is to book in advance... locals really do love it!

choices for a tipple...

How lucky is the Merchant City Festival to have Babbity Bowster hidden in its centre?

Really close to High Street, Babbity Bowster has an amazing wee beer garden, and a cosy bar just waiting to be found.

Bringing the feel of a village pub to the Merchant City, we believe you'll fall in love with it!

Another classic Merchant City bar is the cute and cosy Rab Ha's.

Steeped in history, and sitting quietly just round the corner from bustling Glassford Street, Rab Ha's opens its arms to welcome all travellers!

Fancy a spot of renaissance design, in an Italian courtyard that is really inside? (What a weird question to ask!)

Well if the answer is "Yes", get yourself over to Arta for a glass or two.

This is one the most unusual bars in the Merchant City, and this year is venue to more than one festival event.

Expect the vibe to be going wild!

perfect pre-theatre...

One of the Merchant City Festival hubs is The Tron Theatre, and the Tron Victorian Bar is a striking place for a spot of pre-theatre dining.

In fact, the energy levels go through the roof here - and what a striking roof, too - on show nights.

The bar is original, from Victorian times, and it sits proudly over a really cool dining space where great food is served.

The decor is striking as well in Guy's. Part modern chic, part Granny's kitchen (no, really), it somehow works.

And the food with its influences from around the world always has something to inspire.

If that doesn't float your boat, old faves are also to be found on the menu. Check it out and enjoy.

top merchant city festival vibe...

One of the best things about the Merchant City Festival is the friendly feel of those taking in the music, street artists, face painters, markets and shows.

The whole Merchant City buzzes with laid back laughter and applause.

With this is mind, our Top Secret Agents have put their heads (and notes) together, to bring you the places to go for a seat.

In those places you'll feel right at the centre of the festival fun and games. Expect friendly crowds and lots of happy chit-chat.

A leading light in the Merchant City, and a beacon to cool and good taste is Brutti Ma Buoni in The Brunswick.

It was outside tables on recently restored Brunswick Street, and there might well be a musical stage facing it.

So the best of all worlds awaits here - you sit in a cool spot, in the sun if it's nice, with stylish folks and close to a stage for musical ents. Who could ask for more?

Just down Brunswick Street from Brutti Ma Buoni are two other hot Merchant City spots. Cafe Mao and Citation are classy, and both have pavement terraces.

Get there early to grab the best tables!

In this neck of the Merchant City woods, plenty to see floats by, and it'll look great when you're seen in the most vibrant spots!

Both are special inside, too. Cafe Mao is light and airy, serving spicy Thai delights (and lots of beers!). Citation, on the other hand, is cosy and minimal, despite its size. Don't tell anyone, but Citation also has a first floor balcony to sit at as well.

Funky, or what?

Last, but by no means least, is Tron Bar. Popular for decades now, locals keep going back, and with good reason.

Sitting in an award-winning restored building, one wall is all glass. Sit in the window, sip your drink and even have a nibble, while the whole Merchant City Festival vibe gets going, all around you.

The Tron rocks... every time.

how was it for you?...

That just about wraps it up from Top Secret Glasgow. We really hope your Merchant City Festival 2008 is a blast. Why not file your own report about what you get up to? We'd love to hear from you. And we'll even publish your very own Top Secret web pages. Include a photos of your adventures, for added impact.

Enjoy the festival, Merchant City party-people!