Gavin Mitchell’s Best of Glasgow

National World - LocalTV

We meet with Gavin Mitchell (Boabby the Barman from Still Game) to find out his best of Glasgow.

Transcript

00:00This is your best of Glasgow.

00:01What's your favourite Glasgow restaurant?

00:04Oh, favourite...

00:04It would probably just be Mother India's Cafe, I think.

00:09I've never had a bad meal there.

00:11It's just always got a brilliant selection and stuff.

00:14I mean, the only problem is you can't book.

00:16But, yeah, I've never been disappointed.

00:18I love it.

00:19Your favourite pub?

00:20Oh.

00:23My favourite pub...

00:24I've just kind of got to watch the bar staff here.

00:26They've got a bit of touchy.

00:27I could bet on my backside.

00:28I have many favourite pubs.

00:31I'm a man of a certain vintage.

00:33It's really hard for me to choose a favourite, if I'm honest.

00:36Here is amazing.

00:37I would say this is like the CBGBs of High Street.

00:41And where are we?

00:42We are in the Fantastic McKill's Bar in High Street.

00:47We've had everybody in here from Wet Leg played here fairly recently

00:52to we've had members of Echo and the Bunnymen watching football in the ceiling.

00:56All sorts of people from the Pogues, you name it, and the amazing Nicky Stewart, who's run it,

01:02who's a legend, as is this bar.

01:05Apart from that, I like Step's Bar.

01:08Old, old booze, I like the Lauriston Bar.

01:11Places with a bit of character and history to them.

01:13Second, then, is your favourite place to go get a coffee?

01:17Probably a really terrible cheap coffee at Gregg's or something off a nap out of somewhere near or something.

01:25Oh, I like the Ottoman Coffee House.

01:28I really like there, actually.

01:30It's beautiful inside.

01:31It's really gorgeous.

01:32And you can just while away an afternoon in there and keep getting other wee bits off the menu

01:36and have a wee game of backgammon or something.

01:38So I like it in there, actually.

01:39It's pretty cool.

01:40That's a good one.

01:41Your favourite music venue?

01:44Ah, Barland.

01:45Has to be.

01:46There's so many.

01:48Sadly, ABC being gone.

01:49I was very proud of ABC and Suckey-Oghtray.

01:51That beautiful wooden ceiling, huge mirror ball.

01:54But definitely Barland.

01:55I mean, if Walls could talk, there's just so many people who have played there.

01:58And I've seen most of them since it opened.

02:01I was there when it opened in the 80s.

02:02So, yes, I'm that old.

02:05It's a simple mince in 84, I think.

02:09Four, 40 years now.

02:12And, yeah, my hero, Bowie, played Barland.

02:15And a crowd suffered and touched his hand in the Barland.

02:18And I'm the only person, apart from David Bowie,

02:20who has a star from the ceiling in the Barland.

02:24And, yeah.

02:26Oh.

02:27Your favourite building?

02:29Oh, gosh.

02:30Oh, so much brilliant architecture in Glasgow.

02:34My favourite building that's closed at the moment, probably,

02:38would be the People's Palace and the Winter Gardens.

02:42I'm very fond of it.

02:43I just think it's brilliant because it's the history of the city, of the people.

02:47It belongs to the kind of people.

02:49It shows sides of Glasgow you don't normally see.

02:51And the Winter Gardens was a brilliant place to hang out

02:54and be in many weddings and parties there.

02:56And also, our penultimate episode, a still game,

02:59we filmed in the Winter Gardens, which I really love.

03:02So people who don't like the side ending to a still game

03:04always say, watch the penultimate episode.

03:06It's a happy ending.

03:07It ends in a wedding with the blue bells.

03:09So, yeah.

03:10So I would say they are.

03:11Your favourite neighbourhood?

03:14Ooh!

03:15Favourite neighbourhood?

03:16Got to watch myself.

03:17Got a kick in.

03:18I've lived in the South Side for years and years

03:20and I was over about a week or so ago

03:21and it's really cool.

03:23I really like it.

03:24So, Pollock Shores Road, Vicky Road,

03:27and all that's really up and coming.

03:28So, yeah.

03:29You always think the grass is greener, don't you?

03:31Yeah, I don't know.

03:33Yeah, almost impossible.

03:35Your favourite outdoor space?

03:37I like the canal.

03:39I like up at the Fort and Clyde Canal.

03:40I walk there with my dog a lot, almost every day.

03:43And I think it's a wee hidden gem.

03:45I think during the pandemic, a lot of people discovered it.

03:48But a lot of people don't realise that canal's up there.

03:50It's a beautiful walk.

03:52You can go all the way to Loch Lomond

03:53and if you're up, you can go all the way to Edinburgh.

03:56It's nice and flat for us older folk.

04:00Your favourite Glasgow band?

04:01Oh, that's...

04:04Well, I'm kind of biased of the band that I play with.

04:07Now, and again, Colonel Muscle and the Dijon Five.

04:10I think they're pretty damn good, even if I say so myself.

04:14But, again, being of a certain age,

04:16I love Sensational Alex Harvey band,

04:19which is why I wear stripes a lot.

04:21And also, I just don't think they were ever given the credit.

04:24They were due.

04:26A lot of people say,

04:26oh, the Proclaimers sang in their accent.

04:28They're the first people that sang in their Scottish accent.

04:30No, they weren't.

04:32It was a sensational Alex Harvey band.

04:34And also, Alex Harvey was the first person to sing Shout,

04:37not Lulu.

04:38And he sang it in a Scottish accent.

04:40So, I'm awful fond of them.

04:42And their theatricality.

04:44And their, aye, their Ouija-ness.

04:47And I just think they're brilliant.

04:48They were really admired all over Europe,

04:50but not so much in their home country,

04:52which is a shame.

04:53So, yeah.

04:53And then, lastly, your Glasgow hero.

04:56My Glasgow...

04:57Oh, well, the most obvious one, really, probably.

05:00I would say Billy Conley, of course.

05:02I had the honour to meet him just a couple of years ago.

05:06Spent an afternoon with him,

05:07which was brilliant.

05:08It did not disappoint.

05:09It was just amazing.

05:12It was like meeting Aslan.

05:15He was just fabulous.

05:16And just as you expect,

05:18really funny, charming, lovely, warm.

05:21It's like everybody's da.

05:23He's like the dad of the city.

05:25So, yeah.

05:26Yeah, Mr Conley would have to be.

05:28I'm awful fond of him.

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