Welcome to The Bell, a new quality newspaper for Glasgow, delivered via email. If you join our free mailing list, you will get amazing stories about the city to your inbox every week, always written, edited and fact-checked by our team of independent journalists.
Our mission is to cover Glasgow with rich, deeply reported journalism — including fantastic narrative long reads, thoughtful political analysis and stories that portray the variety, drama and fun of city life.
We won't blanket our stories with annoying ads and we won't ask you to click on lots of links in order to stay informed. In fact, every word of what we publish can be read directly in your inbox.
Just enter your email below to join up – and please then help us to grow by sharing this page with friends.
The team behind The Bell
The Bell is staffed by Calum and Robbie, two experienced journalists committed to bringing a new type of local journalism to the city. Calum Grewar is an investigative reporter who cut his teeth at the BBC, and wants to unearth the city’s hidden secrets. Robbie Armstrong is a reporter, writer and audio producer. He’s worked for the BBC Food Programme, Archive on 4, Vittles and the Sunday Times. He’s interested in stories about people and place, but has a soft spot for all things food and drink.
Together, Calum and Robbie have reported on the MAGA-adjacent movement within Rangers, exposed the vulnerability of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's only church, and analysed what really led to the collapse of a Southside tenement. This is on top of the widely-shared exposé of the neo-fascist views of one of the men hanging up saltires across north Glasgow.
We also have a fantastic lineup of freelance contributors, including the award-winning feature writer Dani Garavelli, who has written a brilliant 'state of the city' long read for us about the pressing issues Glasgow faces, and Eve Livingston, who has been reporting on the council's equal pay dispute and far-right rumours in Royston. We have must-read stories from the former Herald columnist Catriona Stewart and top politics writer Margaret Taylor. If you're interested in writing for The Bell, please read our general pitching guide and get in touch.
Here's what Dani says about why she's contributing to The Bell.
"I am delighted to have written an essay on Glasgow for The Bell which promises to be a fine addition to the Scottish media landscape. Though there is no shortage of journalistic talent to be harnessed here, and the appetite for long-form and narrative work remains undiminished, there are not enough platforms willing to invest in it. I look forward to seeing established and new writers being given the space to breathe, and producing meaningful and thought-provoking pieces on this site."
How we fund our journalism
If you join The Bell's mailing list, you will always get regular stories from us that are completely free of charge. We believe in providing public service journalism about important issues in Glasgow and you're very welcome to stay on our free list for as long as you like.
But if you want to get all of our stories – and support our mission to create a different kind of local media - we also have a paid membership option. For the price of a couple of pints (or coffees) per month, you will be able to subscribe to The Bell, which will give you access to lots of extra reporting, the ability to discuss our stories in the comments and invitations to our members-only events.
I was v happy to be asked to write this essay on Glasgow, a city I love, but which sometimes seems to have lost its way/heart, for the first weekend of @theglasgowbell, which promises to be a fantastic addition to the Scottish media landscape. https://t.co/xeYtyXeHau
— Dani Garavelli (@DaniGaravelli1) October 5, 2024
This reader-funded business model has been a huge success for our sister Mill Media publications, which first started publishing back in 2020 and have built up a national reputation for superb writing and agenda-setting investigative journalism. We're an independent media company that has shown that if readers – rather than irritating pop up ads – are your main source of income, you can focus on the things that readers most want: high quality journalism, rather than chasing millions of clicks.
We've been backed by some of the most respected figures in British media, including Mark Thompson, the chief executive of CNN and former boss of the BBC and the New York Times. As Mark put it: “I’m backing Mill Media because of the exceptional quality of its journalism and because it’s such an interesting and encouraging initiative. Britain’s cities need great commercially-sustainable journalism to inform the public and hold powerful institutions to account.”
Advertise: If your company or organisation wants to partner with us and reach our 12,000 highly engaged readers across Glasgow, please email grace@millmediaco.uk or visit our ads page.