West End Festival Glasgow

Debs M.

13 June 2026

27/6/15 - Glasgow Girls of Garnethill, walking tour by Glasgow Women's Library.

(Let's all ignore the fact that this was 5 months ago and I'm a terrible person for not getting round to this sooner. Cool? Okiedokie then!)

I was lucky enough to win a spot for this fab walking tour through Yelp, and I was so excited to learn more about some of the truly brilliant women who have shaped Glasgow in some way or another. We were also very lucky with the weather, which is indeed a rarity in our fair city, it was sunny and everything, woohoo!

We donnered about Garnethill learning loads about different women with a connection to the area and their various fantastic achievements. We also took time to take in the truly stunning buildings in the area, and it was a pretty relaxed affair. That said, 2 hours passed so quickly what with all the knowledge we were gaining. I personally hadn't heard of many of the women being discussed, which I felt really bad about and am now determined to learn more!

I would highly recommend this tour to anyone looking to learn a bit more about Glasgow's history! The GWL also run walking tours of other areas in Glasgow, or you can pick up a leaflet and do the tour yourself, although you'd be missing some really interesting snippets of information. I'm definitely planning on doing at least the East End and Necropolis tours, but there are also West End and Merchant City tours as well!
I'd also encourage people to get along to the library itself, but I'd be a bit of a hypocrite as although I signed up to be a member, I haven't even got myself along there yet! (See the aforementioned bit about me being a terrible person which you should be ignoring right now.)

Roslyn S.

9 June 2026

The West End Festival is one of my favourite events of the year in Glasgow. The parade is a mix of colour and music as the people in it dance down the streets of the West End. Mouths won't go hungry as local businesses set up stalls and seats outside. Burgers, pizza, chips, cakes and pastries: there's lots to fill you up whilst you're entertained by the parade. Outside Hillhead Bookclub is the over 18s area which is a good escape from the pushy prams.

You just need to make sure you get a good spot or you might not get to see a lot!

Sarah A.

7 June 2026

Did anyone make their way to Glasgow Mela last weekend? Cause I thought it was FAB! Lucky enough that the weather was on our side last weekend too.

The festival had so many things and I'm glad that it was free too seeing as it was in Kelvingrove Park!

The atmosphere of family, children and friends of different cultures (many Indian folk, locals and a bunch of other random nationalities including myself :D) came by to chill out at the park.

Whether it was to play with outdoor installations or at the fun fair, or listen to music with a pint under the sun, or watch silly performances by street artists (and magicians) or even dance along with the amazing traditional performers (and also Irish line dancers) the day was just great!

My partner and I explored everything! We were down at the smaller stage listening to Indian music with toddlers dancing everywhere. And then we watched as a parade of what seemed to be circus performers walked by. We slept on the grass while having Pimm's cocktails and listening to some dj sets. And then watched the amazing performers by so many tradition local clubs!

If you haven't been before, you should really consider going in the next years to come :)

Update: also, went to Chop Pop's exhibition of her Love Letters to Glasgow in the Hillhead Library and it was wonderful! Her artwork is amazing and meticulous! She's also a friendly wee lady and I love her. Check out her facebook if you didn't manage to catch her!

Lucy B.

23 May 2026

The Treacherous Orchestra, Oran Mor, 7th June 2015

I was so glad that I went along to this show. I didn't even really know what sort of music it would be, I just thought it was a cool sounding name. Clearly I should make all my decisions in the same discerning manner from now on, as my instincts were bang on!

The Treacherous Orchestra are a traditional Scottish music band, but with a metal/rock twist. On stage, from what I could see were 2 fiddles, a bodhran, 2 sets of bagpipes, interchanging with tin whistles, a flute, an acoustic guitar, an accordian, bass guitar, electric guitar, and a full drum kit. You can imagine when these guys get going, there's some racket going on! When they ramp it up, there's definitely some ACDC style guitar riffs going on. It was amazing.

The players themselves are fantastic, real virtuosos, and everything they did was done with such precision. It sounded to me like there wasn't a note out of place, but it sounded wild at the same time. The band were enjoying it just as much as the crowd, and I don't think there was a person in there who wasn't having an awesome night.

Oran Mor was the perfect event for this too. Small enough that you get a good view from wherever you are, but big enough that the crowd can jump, jump, jump.

Kimberly B.

15 May 2026

Drag Bingo - 24/06/15

When I was perusing the events for this years WEF and I discovered the delight that is Drag Bingo, my heart skipped a beat. Drag queens? Competition? Cash prizes? I was sold.

I'm a big fan of drag events and regularly attend the monthly Menergy club night in AXM so I recognised names of the two hosts straight away! Miss October Fist and Acid Taint are two well known drag superstars on the Glasgow scene and they were our hosts for the evening.

First off can I say, who checked the copy for the WEF brochure? It had the event starting at 8pm and when we arrived at the Hillhead Bookclub all the signs said the start time was 9pm. Second it had one of the hosts names wrong (taunt not taint). Lastly it said they'd be "throwing shape" and every good Ru Paul's Drag Race fan knows that it would be shade our queens were throwing!!

Anyway...onto the Main Event (geddit)! The start time for this event was actually closer to 10pm. The £3 cocktails were flowing so we didn't mind too much, but we were pretty antsy to get started by 9.30. Especially when we could see the girls standing at the microphones setting up. 3 games were played, first for a line and then for a full house each game. The prizes were pretty decent : for each line you won a free strawberry Mojito from the bar and the full house prizes were a meal for two at HHBC, a HHBC signature gramophone cocktail and finally a £500 cash prize!!

Acid and Miss Fist bantered away while calling the bingo with a 15ish minute break between each game. To be honest, if you're a big fan of drag, it was nothing you won't have seen or heard before. Their patter was pretty standard and I've seen similar acts in the past. I would really recommend this event for people new to the drag scene or those how like their adult humour a bit PG-13! That being said, others groups were loving it.

I had been there since 6.30pm so by the time we started I just wanted to play bingo!! I began to get annoyed each time they took a break and this inhibited my enjoyment of their filler pieces and extended banter. I just wanted to win the £500!! Luckily, this event runs the last Wednesday of each month, so maybe if I return I would aim to turn up for 9.30ish instead!!

Did I win the £500 you ask?? Despite having a gentleman's agreement with my friends to split the money if any of us won, I did not walk away with the grand prize!! The lucky winner said she planned to go to Japan with her money, all I can say is good luck with that, girl!!

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Debs M.

Roslyn S.

Sarah A.

Lucy B.

Kimberly B.

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