Merchant City & Trongate Many sides of Glasgow rub up against one another in this corner of town. The lavish architecture of the Merchant City points to the prosperity of Victorianera Glasgow, a wealth that the city is just beginning to reckon with given it was built off the back of the slave trade.
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oday the area, home to fashion boutiques and fancy cocktail bars, acts as the unofficial poster boy for the city; if you’ve ever seen a Visit Glasgow ad, chances are shots of this neighbourhood’s palatial streets and well-heeled revellers were included.
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Marketeers rarely point their cameras south to Trongate, however. The link between the shopping thoroughfare of Argyle Street and Glasgow Cross, the historic gateway into Old Glasgow, this is where the city’s capitalistic excess recedes, giving way to the more authentic side of
town. It’s here, in the neglected corners, that artists have made their home, with some of Glasgow’s most creative venues, most adventurous galleries and most-loved independent shops found in the streets sandwiched between Trongate, Saltmarket and the River Clyde.
