The Glad Cafe is making a return to Glasgow's southside after 18 months of closure
A community cafe and venue is set to bounce back from lockdown closure.
The Glad Cafe in Shawlands has been closed throughout lockdown, with crowdfunding taking place to carry out major repairs to the roof of the building.
More than £40,000 was donated as part of the Raising the Roof appeal, with work now underway on the repairs.
And with Scottish Government guidelines allowing the return of live music, the cafe is set to reopen its doors next week (Thursday 9 September).
The Glad’s venue manager, Kim Blyth, said: “It’s really exciting to finally have live music coming back to The Glad Cafe. We have had wonderful support from our community of gig-goers, artists, industry peers, and most notably Music Venues Trust, who have worked tirelessly to get Grassroots Music Venues all over the UK in a position to safely reopen their doors. It’s going to be an amazing buzz to welcome everyone back to The Glad Cafe and experience live music together again, at long last!"
An exciting calendar of events is planned for September, and a range of measures will be in place to help keep guests safe.
The Glad also bids farewell to co-managers Joe Smillie and Sarah Reid, who, after guiding the cafe through the challenges of the past 18 months, are moving on to new projects. They will, however, remain on as board members, helping shape the Glad's future as it enters its 10th year. Stepping into their shoes is long-time Glad Foundation project manager, and Glad Community Choir director, Rory Haye.
He said: “The Glad’s played such an important role in shaping my past decade, so I feel honoured now to be working alongside the whole team of amazing staff to make Glad’s 10th year a worthy celebration of everything achieved since first opening its doors in 2012."
Taking on the role of managing director, Haye will help to solidify the ties between the Glad’s activities as both a music venue, and provider of music education for the young people of the Southside.
You can book tickets for events now and find out more on the Glad's website.
