Food round-up: churning the hard way
With the UK’s food and drink sector in tumultuous times, it’s mainly the big players making moves and snapping up new spaces. Recently, the Thai Bar and Restaurant begged for help to keep its business afloat. Beloved taqueria Rafa’s recently shut (even if Dumbarton’s Big Taquero is set to move into the Hidden Lane premises). Marchtown is gone and Hinba’s Seven21 is shuttered, set to be replaced by Edinburgh vegan restaurant Hendersons. Torrisdale Tavern also shut recently after less than two years in business.
For Parveen’s Fariya and Sahar Sharif, the road to finding a bricks-and-mortar premises has been arduous, after they wound up their Parveen’s pop-up at Civic House last summer. They’ve spent the past 18 months looking for a space to open. “It’s been pretty difficult, so much worse than we expected,” Fariya tells The Bell on a break from prepping for a supper club. She explains that despite building the business and brand and having three years of good accounts to show for, “it doesn’t seem like it mattered, being a small business and women hasn’t worked in our favour”.
The type of businesses landlords are choosing over the likes of Parveen’s is clear. Rumour has it Scoop restaurant group (Ox & Finch, Ka Pao, Sebb’s, Margo) have their eyes on the space where Parveen’s were gazumped on Nithsdale Road. Another spot the sisters viewed on Kilmarnock Road was leased to Chai Green (a Birmingham-based business which offers franchise opportunities for £180,000+VAT).
Overall, it paints a picture of a hospitality scene which favours large players, or at the very least those with established and successful brands. For independents and new entrants, the odds are stacked against them. The Sharif sisters have spent between £4–5,000 on legal fees and preparing lease agreements so far, going into debt to do so. “It’s really difficult for people to start up in this climate,” Sharif says. This week, they’re hoping to launch a kickstarter if they can sign a lease on a property. They’ll need to install a kitchen and obtain the correct hot food licenses, which won’t be cheap. “It’s scary and exciting but we have a passion to make it happen.” It’s something of an indictment on the state of the industry that ostensibly successful food brands are turning to crowdfunding to get a foothold in the market.
As for the Marchtown spot on Pollokshaws Road, The Bell has heard from three sources that the owners of Corner Shop are moving in (Fallachan and Brett alumnus Conor McGeady; Matthew Mustard of Grain & Grind/Queen’s Diner; and business partner Gary Mckernan). Fresh off of being crowned one of Condé Nast’s best new restaurants in the UK, McGeady spared some time to chat with The Bell last week. He’d not long rented a motorbike and rode from Malaga to Seville, Spain being Corner Shop’s main source of culinary inspiration.
On the rumours, he tells The Bell that they have the keys to a new unit. “I won’t mention the exact space,” he says, but says it’s on the Southside of Glasgow, all but confirming our intel. It will be “more cocktail focused”, operating under a different brand than Corner Shop. The plan is for more of an “elevated dive bar” with small food offering, small plates, bar snacks” and “maybe a record bar in the basement,” McGeady says. A few things are clear in the city’s hospitality sector in 2026: it’s all change, churn and chains.
Glasgow in Brief
🦁 One of Scotland’s most significant gangland figures has been arrested on the Indonesian island of Bali. Steven Lyons, 45, found himself being proudly paraded about by Indonesian police after they picked him up at Gusti Ngurah Rai airport, spotting an Interpol red notice against his name.
Reports suggest that it was Spanish police that requested Lyons’ arrest, their latest in an ongoing crackdown on Scottish gangland figures after last year’s double murder of Eddie Lyons Jr and Ross Monaghan outside a bar in Fuengirola. Lyons is expected to be extradited to Spain. He’s said to be the leader of the Lyons crime dynasty, which originated in Milton and Possilpark (Lyons later moved to Cumbernauld). The Lyons have been locked in a bloody feud with the Daniels clan for the past 20 years. He was arrested in Dubai in 2025, spent five months in custody, then was picked up by Bahraini authorities earlier this year. The Bell has been told by an underworld source that Glasgow’s gangsters are on the move not simply because of the years-long criminal crackdown, but due to the war in Iran. Following US and Israeli strikes, Iran has lashed out against its Arabian peninsula neighbours, including the UAE and Bahrain, disrupting the sanctity and safety of life for criminal kingpins living in the Gulf. Our source suggested Spanish police are taking advantage of the situation, arresting key players at airports as they attempt to evade justice.
🏡 After over 40 years of deterioration, Springburn Winter Gardens looks set for a glorious glow up. Glasgow city council has received over £1.1m in regeneration capital grant funding from the Scottish government — one of only two successful projects in the city for 2026–27. The second project to receive funding (£1m) is an advanced manufacturing park for maritime technologies on the River Clyde, Shawfield Innovation’s Red Tree Labs (part of a £500m Clyde Gateway Innovation masterplan).
The A-listed Springburn glasshouse opened in 1900, until a fire in 1983 forced it to close. The gardens once housed exotic plants, hosted concerts and held exhibitions. A community trust — founded and chaired by local MSP Paul Sweeney — hopes to revitalise the historic structure as a venue for performances and events, as well as a nursery, office spaces, allotments, and a cafe-bar, as part of an £8m restoration plan.
🏗️ While we’re on the topic of built heritage… For those whose interest was piqued by news of a multimillion funding boost for Govan, we have a few articles for your perusal. The first, our economic blueprint for Govan. The second concerns the plans to rejuvenate the B-listed and long derelict Lyceum Cinema, which forms part of the regeneration plans alongside Brechin’s Bar and the Fairfield Annexe. Govan is getting sunnier by the day.
Stories you might have missed
🌿 Influencer caught smuggling 17kg of cannabis from Thailand into Edinburgh airport faces jail | The Times (£)
🎨 Hundreds gather in city centre to protest Trongate 103 artist rent hikes | The National (£)
🚃 Glasgow city council established a strategic recovery group to regenerate Central | Urban Realm
😂 Sir Billy Connolly creates audio guide for Glasgow's Kelvingrove Museum | BBC News
⚖️ Celtic pay out five-figure sum to sexual abuse victim | BBC News
🏥 Six bodies wrongly released by mortuary at scandal-hit hospital | The Times (£)
It's been a busy few weeks. From the Union Corner fire to our investigation into a £1m tax avoidance scheme, we've been flat out bringing Glasgow quality local journalism. Over the years, traditional newsrooms have been stripped-back, with in-depth coverage suffering.
You can join The Bell's mailing list for free. You'll get these Monday briefings as well as one other quality, in-depth piece of local reporting per week. What are you waiting for?
Catch up and coming up:
- Here’s a piece to catch up on from a while back, accompanied by some thoroughly good news. Writer Rory MacNeish has won NCTJ awards for two pieces he published in The Bell. Rory got a feature of the year award for unravelling the mystery of an anti-cyclist vigilante in the West End in ‘The Locksmith is coming for you all’. And he also won another feature of the year title for ‘The Chessmaster of Woodlands Road’ — where he explored the UK’s labyrinthine asylum system by talking to Michael, a Zimbabwean who’s been seeking asylum here for 17 years, so spends his time challenging passersby to a chess match on Woodlands Road.
Rory MacNeish
- We’ve all seen it and wondered: what’s with all the baked potato shops? Look, we at Bell HQ love a jacket spud as much as the next newsroom, but the virality and ubiquity of these vendors has taken us a bit off guard. So, Robbie met Preston’s Spud Bros and a reformed Glaswegian spudder to find out what all the fuss is about.
- For our weekend read, we unpacked the political intricacies, and considerable drama of the Iranian protests in the Southside. Israel-supporting, Reza Pahlavi-loving anti-government protestors have been targeting a Shia Islamic Centre in Crosshill. Critics say it’s “anti-muslim” hate, but, as Calum found out, it’s really not that simple.
Fancy writing for us? As Rory proved, our freelancers can publish some amazing pieces in The Bell. Send your idea in to editor@glasgowbell.co.uk.
Or, do you have an idea for a story but don't want to write it? You can WhatsApp our office number on 07787 718079.
From the editor's inbox:
Our story about the Iranian protests saw hundreds of comments on the Instagram post, but most were just spammy hashtags for one side or the other. Ashkan Barmak actually told Calum that he sends messages to supporters to flood the comments of such posts. But, on the website, we saw a very interesting comment indeed, courtesy of reader Graeme Chisholm.
“Beautiful, sophisticated, contradictory Iran. I recall with fondness sitting in Shiraz’s rose garden of remembrance to Sa’di (a revered poet) a few years back and as the whistle blew on a big football match in the stadium nearby supporters started piling into the garden to pay their respects to the man of letters. Another time I was strolling down the sea front on Qeshm (an island in the Strait of Hormuz) and was engaged by a group of thoughtful young people who were thrilled to hear where I was from and were in thrall to the plays of Harold Pinter. And from one island to another - the Isle of Barra – is where the deposed Shah’s children were said to have stayed post revolution as their nurse was from Barra. Pro or anti-regime? Pro the people.”
Re:view: Brutal Scotland, 103 Trongate
This year has already taught many of us that we take not only our built heritage for granted, but also the arts. On Friday, hundreds of protestors marched from the Trongate to Glasgow city chambers to protest in solidarity with the seven arts organisations who were informed last month their rent was to increase fourfold. Over the weekend, I popped my head into Simon Phipps’ exhibition at Street Level Photoworks — a celebration of Scotland’s post-war Modernist architecture. Entering the building past the ‘Save T103’ signs displayed in the windows, Sharmanka’s kinetic sculptures and the signs pointing to Project Ability upstairs, I felt haunted by a vision of a much-depleted and deflated Glasgow of the future, one in which the spaces where the arts once flourished are hollowed out by vacant spaces and soulless corporate shells.
It’s not quite curtains yet, however, with some tenants staying in the building for now. Glasgow Print Studio has signed a temporary lease “under duress” following “lengthy negotiations”. Meanwhile, film charity GMAC has moved to the Pyramid in Anderston. As for Street Level and the other studios, we hope they’re all able to negotiate or find alternative arrangements. Either way, it seems Glasgow's reputation as a leading city for the arts wasn’t as guaranteed as we all thought; we’ve fallen far down the ladder since being crowned European City of Culture in 1990. What the next 35 years spell for the city currently looks far more foreboding than the pre-Halcyon era that came before.—Robbie
Glasgow Calendar: Anna Massie @ Charlie’s Loft
Anna Massie, of Blazin’ Fiddles and Travelling Folk fame, comes to Milngavie on Friday for an evening of solo tunes. The trad folk guitar legend starts an April tour in the ever-active Charlie’s Loft before heading south of the border for four more gigs.
Doors at 8pm, tickets from £13.70
Also on:
GEEKFEST 2026 | Airdrie Working Mens Social Club | Saturday 4 April 11am-4pm | £0-£5
Welcome to The Bell. We’re Glasgow's new newspaper, delivered entirely by email. Sign up to our mailing list and get two totally free editions of The Bell every week: a Monday briefing, full of everything you need to know about that’s going on in the city; and an in-depth weekend piece like the one you're currently reading.
No ads, no gimmicks: just click the button below and get our unique brand of local journalism straight to your inbox.
If someone forwarded you this newsletter, click here to sign up to get quality local journalism in your inbox.
