We meet with Gavin Mitchell (Boabby the Barman from Still Game) to find out his best of Glasgow.
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00:00This is your best of Glasgow.
00:01What's your favourite Glasgow restaurant?
00:04Oh, favourite...
00:04It would probably just be Mother India's Cafe, I think.
00:09I've never had a bad meal there.
00:11It's just always got a brilliant selection and stuff.
00:14I mean, the only problem is you can't book.
00:16But, yeah, I've never been disappointed.
00:18I love it.
00:19Your favourite pub?
00:20Oh.
00:23My favourite pub...
00:24I've just kind of got to watch the bar staff here.
00:26They've got a bit of touchy.
00:27I could bet on my backside.
00:28I have many favourite pubs.
00:31I'm a man of a certain vintage.
00:33It's really hard for me to choose a favourite, if I'm honest.
00:36Here is amazing.
00:37I would say this is like the CBGBs of High Street.
00:41And where are we?
00:42We are in the Fantastic McKill's Bar in High Street.
00:47We've had everybody in here from Wet Leg played here fairly recently
00:52to we've had members of Echo and the Bunnymen watching football in the ceiling.
00:56All sorts of people from the Pogues, you name it, and the amazing Nicky Stewart, who's run it,
01:02who's a legend, as is this bar.
01:05Apart from that, I like Step's Bar.
01:08Old, old booze, I like the Lauriston Bar.
01:11Places with a bit of character and history to them.
01:13Second, then, is your favourite place to go get a coffee?
01:17Probably a really terrible cheap coffee at Gregg's or something off a nap out of somewhere near or something.
01:25Oh, I like the Ottoman Coffee House.
01:28I really like there, actually.
01:30It's beautiful inside.
01:31It's really gorgeous.
01:32And you can just while away an afternoon in there and keep getting other wee bits off the menu
01:36and have a wee game of backgammon or something.
01:38So I like it in there, actually.
01:39It's pretty cool.
01:40That's a good one.
01:41Your favourite music venue?
01:44Ah, Barland.
01:45Has to be.
01:46There's so many.
01:48Sadly, ABC being gone.
01:49I was very proud of ABC and Suckey-Oghtray.
01:51That beautiful wooden ceiling, huge mirror ball.
01:54But definitely Barland.
01:55I mean, if Walls could talk, there's just so many people who have played there.
01:58And I've seen most of them since it opened.
02:01I was there when it opened in the 80s.
02:02So, yes, I'm that old.
02:05It's a simple mince in 84, I think.
02:09Four, 40 years now.
02:12And, yeah, my hero, Bowie, played Barland.
02:15And a crowd suffered and touched his hand in the Barland.
02:18And I'm the only person, apart from David Bowie,
02:20who has a star from the ceiling in the Barland.
02:24And, yeah.
02:26Oh.
02:27Your favourite building?
02:29Oh, gosh.
02:30Oh, so much brilliant architecture in Glasgow.
02:34My favourite building that's closed at the moment, probably,
02:38would be the People's Palace and the Winter Gardens.
02:42I'm very fond of it.
02:43I just think it's brilliant because it's the history of the city, of the people.
02:47It belongs to the kind of people.
02:49It shows sides of Glasgow you don't normally see.
02:51And the Winter Gardens was a brilliant place to hang out
02:54and be in many weddings and parties there.
02:56And also, our penultimate episode, a still game,
02:59we filmed in the Winter Gardens, which I really love.
03:02So people who don't like the side ending to a still game
03:04always say, watch the penultimate episode.
03:06It's a happy ending.
03:07It ends in a wedding with the blue bells.
03:09So, yeah.
03:10So I would say they are.
03:11Your favourite neighbourhood?
03:14Ooh!
03:15Favourite neighbourhood?
03:16Got to watch myself.
03:17Got a kick in.
03:18I've lived in the South Side for years and years
03:20and I was over about a week or so ago
03:21and it's really cool.
03:23I really like it.
03:24So, Pollock Shores Road, Vicky Road,
03:27and all that's really up and coming.
03:28So, yeah.
03:29You always think the grass is greener, don't you?
03:31Yeah, I don't know.
03:33Yeah, almost impossible.
03:35Your favourite outdoor space?
03:37I like the canal.
03:39I like up at the Fort and Clyde Canal.
03:40I walk there with my dog a lot, almost every day.
03:43And I think it's a wee hidden gem.
03:45I think during the pandemic, a lot of people discovered it.
03:48But a lot of people don't realise that canal's up there.
03:50It's a beautiful walk.
03:52You can go all the way to Loch Lomond
03:53and if you're up, you can go all the way to Edinburgh.
03:56It's nice and flat for us older folk.
04:00Your favourite Glasgow band?
04:01Oh, that's...
04:04Well, I'm kind of biased of the band that I play with.
04:07Now, and again, Colonel Muscle and the Dijon Five.
04:10I think they're pretty damn good, even if I say so myself.
04:14But, again, being of a certain age,
04:16I love Sensational Alex Harvey band,
04:19which is why I wear stripes a lot.
04:21And also, I just don't think they were ever given the credit.
04:24They were due.
04:26A lot of people say,
04:26oh, the Proclaimers sang in their accent.
04:28They're the first people that sang in their Scottish accent.
04:30No, they weren't.
04:32It was a sensational Alex Harvey band.
04:34And also, Alex Harvey was the first person to sing Shout,
04:37not Lulu.
04:38And he sang it in a Scottish accent.
04:40So, I'm awful fond of them.
04:42And their theatricality.
04:44And their, aye, their Ouija-ness.
04:47And I just think they're brilliant.
04:48They were really admired all over Europe,
04:50but not so much in their home country,
04:52which is a shame.
04:53So, yeah.
04:53And then, lastly, your Glasgow hero.
04:56My Glasgow...
04:57Oh, well, the most obvious one, really, probably.
05:00I would say Billy Conley, of course.
05:02I had the honour to meet him just a couple of years ago.
05:06Spent an afternoon with him,
05:07which was brilliant.
05:08It did not disappoint.
05:09It was just amazing.
05:12It was like meeting Aslan.
05:15He was just fabulous.
05:16And just as you expect,
05:18really funny, charming, lovely, warm.
05:21It's like everybody's da.
05:23He's like the dad of the city.
05:25So, yeah.
05:26Yeah, Mr Conley would have to be.
05:28I'm awful fond of him.