Glasgow's investment in recent years into leisure and events venues across the city now sees it host some of the largest cultural, music and sporting events in the UK.
Just like its legendary music scene that stretches across the whole spectrum of genres, its venues are equally varied. The city hosts an average 130 music events each week, more than any other Scottish city.
Glasgow has eight venues in the Top 100 list of places to watch gigs, outside London, including the SSE Hydro, which is ranked in the top five best global arenas, even beating New York’s iconic Madison Square Garden.
The addition of the 12,000 person capacity Hydro at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) in September 2013 has significantly boosted numbers at Scotland’s largest exhibition centre. Crowned the best UK venue at the Exhibition News Awards in 2018, by its fifth anniversary The Hydro had hosted 639 event performances, welcoming 5.2 million visitors through its doors.
The Hydro has been recognised as a significant new source of business to the hotel and hospitality sector in Glasgow that is giving way to notable new development. Since 2014 17 hotels have opened in the city, equating to 2,065 additional bedrooms, including Radisson Red, Dakota Deluxe, Village Hotel and Apex City of Glasgow Hotel.
A further 11 projects are underway and confirmed as opening in the next two years. These include AC By Marriot Glasgow City Centre, Courtyard Glasgow SECC, MOXY Glasgow SECC, Premier Inn Glasgow City Centre St Enoch Square, Premier Inn Glasgow Pacific Quay SECC, Yotel Glasgow and Adagio City Aparthotel Glasgow St Enoch Quarter.
A further 26 hotel developments – and nearly 3,000 additional rooms – are in the final planning phase. Overall, in the next five years, a total of 60 projects (7,608 rooms) are planned.
The development pipeline sees a host of new hotel operators establish themselves in Glasgow and a mix of both independent and branded operators. Of the 11 hotels launching in the next two years, three are independent and eight are by international operators.
Considerable development and regeneration to date has occurred around Pacific Quay and the SECC Waterfront area, where there is proximity to key venues including the SEC, Glasgow Science Centre and IMAX.
Home to lots of new and independent restaurants and bars, as well as the SWG3 Studio Warehouse, another venue and event space, the surrounding area of Finnieston has become a vibrant areas to live, eat and drink, voted the UK’s 'hippest place to live' by The Times in 2016. As a result, further hotel development is expected to cluster in the area. Other hot spots to watch include Merchant City.
Further information
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