Plans to turn park toilets into chic cafe

A LISTED Victorian toilet block in one of Scotland's best-known urban parks is to be reinvented - as a chic cafe for the health-conscious.

The Queen's Rooms in Glasgow's Kelvingrove Park will be leased by the city council to a team of catering entrepreneurs who aim to attract park users, surrounding businesses and local residents with organic and fair trade health foods and drinks.

Known as An Clachan Cafe, it will have a capacity for 30 indoor diners and a further 30 outside. It will also operate a takeaway service using biodegradable packaging. It will open seven days a week, until 5pm during winter and 9pm in summer.

The C-listed building has lain derelict for more than 25 years and any alterations will have to be sympathetic to its external heritage features.
www.theherald.co.uk/news/other/display.var.1220791.0.0.php

Is this the thing on Gibson Street that was mentioned a while back, or is it the thing way over near Sauchiehall Street at the East end of the park?
The one on Gibson Street is a great location, the other one is a very poor location, imo.
If it's the one at the East end, then I hope they'll be allowed plenty of the space around it for terracing with tables, and that they'll be allowed to cut back some of the trees.

Does anyone else think it's a disgrace that we can't have well-maintained toilets??

yes I think it's not a lot to ask from a main park like kelvingrove as for the cafe idea great if they use the right location but bad for takeaway litter getting thrown all over the park

I think a terraced cafe anywhere in the park would be a success and I agree that its pretty poor form that there isn't one there at the moment. I've been to these sorts of places in London and Paris and they do ok.

There's a surprising amount of businesses at the Sauchiehall side of the park which would support lunchtime trade and there's loads of pubs at that end of sauchiehall street that prove another enterprise in that general vicinity would thrive.

The Gibson street end isn't as pretty but could do very well off passing trade.

On the subject of public bogs, there must be loads of well made buildings in the city that are lying unused. The most prominent I can think of are the old loos in the middle of Anniesland Cross. It would be great to do something with them. Maybe there's a thread about them on Hidden Glasgow. Crusty?

Brilliant - the sooner bother Kelvingrove Park and the Botanic Gardens get cafes the better.


It's an inspired location for the Kelvingrove cafe, too, that whole area is just crying out to be used.

I wait with bated breath to see what they come up with :)

Nord (http://www.nordarchitecture.com/publicconv.html#) had done a study on this project way back last year.

http://www.nordarchitecture.com/project_images/updates_aug/publicconv/pubconvnew1.jpg http://www.nordarchitecture.com/project_images/updates_aug/publicconv/pubconvnew2.jpg

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/_images/db/50/34/030507nkelvin.503478.full.jpg

KELVINGROVE'S comeback has sparked a bonanza for pubs, cafes and shops around the world-famous museum.

As official figures today confirmed the gallery as the most visited attraction in Scotland with 1.88million visitors in six months, traders said business had gone through the roof.

Kelvingrove's nearest rival in the list of free attractions is Edinburgh's National Gallery of Scotland, which attracted 940,000 visitors.

The country's second most-popular place overall was Edinburgh Castle, which costs £12 for adult entry, with 1.2m visits.

The statistics, revealed in the VisitScotland's annual Visitor Attraction Monitor, also showed Kelvingrove is having a positive effect on nearby venues including the Museum of Transport, which welcomed 506,339 visitors - a rise of 35% on the previous year.

Glasgow Science Centre was in fourth place with 410,513 visits.

Tom McWilliam, VisitScotland area director, said: "The enormous success of Kelvingrove is also great news for nearby businesses, as the Museum of Transport figures demonstrate.

"Kelvingrove's gravitational pull will also have benefited cafés, restaurants, taxis and shops.

"Tourism is everyone's business."

Traders surrounding the galleries, which re-opened last summer after a £28m refurbishment, agreed with cafes, bars and restaurants all reporting increased business.

Morris McCarroll, manager of Cafe Orlando in Argyle Street, said: "It's been phen-omenal. Especially at holiday periods it's been choc-a-bloc and absolutely jumping.
"There a lot of families coming in during the holidays and over the piece you get a lot of foreign visitors too. We've had Americans, French, Germans and Dutch all coming in. It's been hectic."

Kerry Polwart, chargehand at nearby bar, The Goat, said: "There's a lot more people who are not regulars coming in since Kelvingrove opened and at school holidays it gets a lot busier."

And a spokesman for the coffee shop Kelvingrove Beanscene said: "The opening has a had a definite impact on business."

The independent research from Glasgow Caledonian University showed 700 attractions were visited throughout Scotland last year.

Mr McWilliam added: "Everyone involved in the Kelvingrove restoration project deserves credit for delivering a comeback that exceeded everyone's expectations."

He added: "It has also restored a classic Glasgow family day out - visiting both Kelvingrove and the Transport Museum."

This seems to have died a death. Any more news on proposals for a cafe? I think it'd do incredibly well!

This seems to have died a death. Any more news on proposals for a cafe? I think it'd do incredibly well!

Strangely enough, we were there today and I was thinking of this very thread and whaddaya know, its on the front page of the forum! Anyway, there is a cafe at the Eastern end of the park and its called, I believe, An Clachan - its situated in a wee building near the swings and roundabouts. It was doing a heaving trade this afternoon - there must have been at least 30 families down there and all the mums and dads were sipping cappucinos and munching cakes. We indulged too. A generous interpretation is that the staff were taken aback by the level of trade as it took them fully 15 minutes to make our cups of tea, a more cynical person might say there were incompetent. Anyway, I predicted earlier in the thread this facility would be a success and despite the best efforts of the staff, it does seem to be doing well.

Whats happening with the Kelvingrove Bandstand?

I think this would be a good thing for Glasgow in the summer months.