Wednesday 22 April 2009

Scottish first for Strathclyde in law competition – University of Strathclyde Press Release (3 April)

Scottish first for Strathclyde in law competition – University of Strathclyde Press Release (3 April)
The University of Strathclyde has become the first university in Scotland to win a prestigious award for widening access to legal services. Strathclyde Law School won the Best Contribution by a Law School award in the LawWorks & Attorney General Student Awards. The University won its award for the work of its Law Clinic, which offers free legal advice and representation to members of the public who do not qualify for Legal Aid but still cannot afford professional fees. The Law Clinic is the only service of its kind in Scotland and Strathclyde is the first Scottish university to win in the LawWorks & Attorney General Student Awards. Law schools in Scotland and Northern Ireland were invited to enter the awards for the first time this year.

Homecoming Tea launched at Willow Tea Rooms

Master blenders for Glasgow’s Willow Tea Rooms have created a Homecoming Scotland tea to celebrate the country’s historic trading links with Asia. Available from today (6th April), the tea is exclusive to the Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed Willow Tea Rooms in Sauchiehall Street, the new tea room in Mackintosh's Scotland Street School and the Mackintosh inspired tea rooms in Buchanan Street. Bailie Liz Cameron, Vice-Chair – Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, said: “I am sure that Mackintosh himself would be delighted to know that, one hundred years on, The Willow Tearooms continue to go from strength to strength as a visitor experience and would thoroughly approve of this new blend!”

Glasgow Comedy Festival reports record sales – Sunday Herald (5 March)

Organisers of the Magners Glasgow International Comedy Festival today announced a seven per cent increase in sales for 2009. More than 75,000 tickets were sold for 347 shows during the 18-day event. The Sunday Herald was media partner. Scottish Comedy Agency director Tommy Sheppard said: “We’ve broken all records. This proves laughter is the best medicine.” Highlights included Jimmy Carr, who sold out four nights at the SECC, Ross Noble, who packed the Theatre Royal for three evenings and Rob Brydon, who filled the concert hall for two nights.

£90m Clydeside Jobs Boost – Iain Lundy, Evening Times, (20 April)

£90m Clydeside Jobs Boost – Iain Lundy, Evening Times, (20 April)
Glasgow’s financial district is in line to create another 2500 jobs. Plans have been lodged for a £90million office, conference and health club development at Atlantic Quay, in the city’s ‘Wall Street’. A six-storey, 150-bedroom hotel will also be built on the site between James Watt Street and York Street. The plan, lodged with Glasgow City Council by the Capella Group, is a key part of the regeneration of the former Broomielaw area – now known as the International Financial Services District.

Glasgow Award

Glasgow Award – Scotland on Sunday (19 April) Glasgow has been named among the top 40 most attractive cities in the world for international retailers in a report by property consultants CB Richard Ellis. The report says global brands are attracted by areas such as Buchanan Street and the size of Glasgow’s shopping population. Glasgow was ranked 36th in the world while Edinburgh came in at 64.

Glasgow to host next Mobo awards

Stay at the argyll Hotel Glasgow 0141 3373313

Glasgow to host next Mobo awards
Scotland will host this year's Music of Black Origin (Mobo) Awards for the first time.
Singer Lemar and X Factor stars JLS made the announcement at Glasgow's Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre where the event will take place.
Lemar, who shot to stardom after appearing in the BBC talent show Fame Academy, said this year's ceremony would be an "outstanding event".
The last 13 shows have always taken place in London.
"Bringing the Mobo Awards here to Glasgow, a city with such a strong and vibrant music scene, is the perfect fit," said Lemar.
"I love touring in the UK and the welcome I receive when I come to Scotland is incredible."

Lemar has performed twice at the Mobo Awards
Lemar has previously performed at the event twice and said both times have been a "highlight" in his career.
JLS are currently supporting Lemar on his UK tour.
Marvin Humes of the band said: "Supporting urban music talent is vital to the industry and the Mobo Awards does an outstanding job of nurturing new talent and recognising the icons of music which inspire artists today."
Founder of the awards, Kanya King said: "Throughout Mobo's history we have prided ourselves on finding innovative ways to bring Mobo music and stellar artist performances to our audience.
"This year we are making another unprecedented move by bringing the awards to Scotland."

Stay at the Argyll Hotel Glasgow 0141 337 3313

Friday 17 April 2009

Guest Testimonials

Views from some of our April Guests

Thursday 16 April 2009

High on Glasgow – Shelia Hamilton, Evening Times (10 April)

It’s been hailed by Glasgow City Marketing Bureau as “the best coffee table book about modern Glasgow, ever.” And yet, local award winning artist and actor Charles Jamieson, confesses that when he took on the commission to take the photographs for the Glasgow book for a series on cities all over Europe, he was a bit of an amateur with a camera. He shows off the great legacy of our forebears – Glasgow City Chambers, Kelvingrove, the distinctive Templeton Carpet Factory building and Central Station among many others. ‘Glasgow’ by Charles Jamieson is priced at £16.99.

Airline offers new Egypt route from city airport – Deborah Anderson, Evening Times (13 April)

Low-fares airline flyglobespan is to launch a new route from Glasgow this winter. In a boost for west of Scotland passengers and Glasgow airport, flights to Egypt’s Sharm El Sheikh will take off later this year. A new Saturday service from Glasgow to Sharm El Sheikh is expected to prove a hit with travellers seeking winter sunshine after the existing Edinburgh route proved popular. The airline will also offer a Wednesday winter service to Hurghada, in Egypt, from Glasgow

20,000 tickets sold for Dr Who exhibition

20,000 tickets sold for Dr Who exhibition
More than 20,000 tickets have been sold for the Dr Who exhibition at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, its organisers said yesterday. The Doctor Who Exhibition features props, costumes and monster characters from the long-running television series. The show has proved to be popular. By Monday this week it had sold more than 21,000 tickets and is on target to beat its target audience of 100,000 visitors
Stay at the Argyll hotel Glasgow 0141 337 3313

Warehouse is work of art – Maureen Ellis, Evening Times, (13 April)

A rundown warehouse is being transformed into a cutting-edge £8.5million arts centre in an ambitious project described as being “like nothing else in Europe”. Trongate 103, the B-listed red sandstone Edwardian building in the Merchant City, will open in the autumn as the home for eight artist collectives. It will also have a bohemian café – Café Cossachok – which will move from its old Albion Street site. Architect Paul Mohan, of Elder and Cannon said: “It is a one off…One of the council chaps said there’s nothing in Europe like it in the way that it has gallery and workshop space together with so many different organisations”.

Glasgow Media Luncheon Highlights New Era for City


Glasgow Media Luncheon Highlights New Era for City

When I sat down at the Glasgow Media Luncheon this afternoon, the gentleman next to me began to describe what the city was like 30 years ago. Its primary economy of shipping had suffered, and the city was getting a negative reputation that was not unlike New York’s at the same time, he said.
But just as New York in 2009 is nothing like New York in 1979 or even 1989, Glasgow has reinvented itself to become a beacon of culture and art in Scotland. About 30,000 people in a city of 1.2 million (including the suburbs) are employed in the tourism industry. Museums and luxury hotels are opening throughout the city (at least 2,500 new hotel rooms are expected to debut within the next five years; 160 of these will be in the Jumeriah Glasgow and 85 in the Blythswood Hotel) and a new National Arena will open in 2012 or 2013, just in time for the Commonwealth Games in 2014. Arts and culture festivals take place throughout the year, and 2009 has become a yearlong celebration called “Homecoming Scotland,” honoring the 250th birthday of Scotland’s most famous poet, Robert Burns. As hosts Scott Taylor, chief executive of the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, and Nancy McLardie, head of PR for the same company, explained, Glasgow is growing its own culture rather than “poaching” from other destinations in the UK. The effort has paid off: Last August, the city was named the UNESCO City of Music, and Taylor and McLardie estimate that 127 music events happen in Glasgow every week.