Glasgow Vs English Cities

This is really about Glasgow vs England's newer cities - the ones that mushroomed from the 18th and especially 19th centuries due to industrialisation, such as Manchester and Liverpool, Sheffield, Leeds and Birmingham - cities now of half a million or more.

Unlike any other British city that expanded in the industrial era, Glasgow does have a distinct architectural signature, from Alexander Thompson to the Glasgow Style of Art Deco that came after. (See what I said about Liverpool in a day out with Elspeth). even if you don't know Glasgow well, you could be shown a picture of buildings and know that it must be Glasgow - whereas are those red sandstone palaces, those Greek/Babylonian and Egyptian hybrids that deck the gridded squares of its commercial city?

Most of Britain's greatest cities today were small towns - even villages - before the industrial revolution. Although once small, Glasgow has been a city and therefore significant for religion and learning since the middle ages. English Industrial cities were not born till the mid or late 1800s, when the suddenly sprung metropolises were made the seat of new dioceses, and universities followed. This is true even of Newcastle, who was walled and long significant - but still only a town till c1880. But Glasgow was an archbishopric since 12th Century and its university was founded 1451. Unlike Leeds and Liverpool, its centre has remnants of its preindustrial life - a handful of towers belonging to 15-17th century buildings, Scotland's only medieval domestic building, and one of only two complete medieval cathedrals in the country. Pictures of Glasgow's former high street and wynds are frequently found in books and leaflets, making the older city's presence easily felt in its absence.

Glasgow has an unusual amount of cultural venues. It has around ten theatres - twice what other British cities have - and a high count of music centres. Its theatres show anything from new writers' work, dramas to experimental theatre, dance, touring ballets and operas, comedy and music. The musical gamut runs from fine orchestras to being on the tour itinerary of pretty much any band, whether it be a huge arena, or in a ballroom, cinema or former churches.

Glasgow's West End is established as being as much part of the city as the middle - and recommended to visitors as much as locals. It means there is an easily known escape from huge buildings and frenetic city centre energy if desired. It has a major museum, exhibition hall and university there - all grand buildings - and the side streets are glowing stone terraces. This something I can only think of having an equivalent in Bristol and London.

Glasgow may have the sports and style bars, the places to be seen as much as anywhere; and its sport has the extra edge of religious sectarianism behind club rivalry. But it has the arty edge too. I have discovered several bars and cafes that I happily return to. Have I just come consistently on a good day - or is it true that Glasgow caters for wider types of people? Is it possible to avoid the crazy weekend nights and have a different kind of evening in Glasgow? Having quite a large centre seems to spread rather than condense the nightlife.

Glasgow bleeds into Edinburgh. They are the yin and yang of Scotland. They share the capital status as the national organisations are spread between them.All the national things give Glasgow more than English cities, because England's national cultural organisations are nearly all based in London, save a few museums. But there are also things which any English regional capital has - the new writer's theatre, the arts cinema, the arena, the National Trust, English Heritage and, Arts Council and Screen agency.

When making such lists of comparison, the real bottom line is what is important to me (or you, the reader). What do I personally want out of the offerings of Glasgow? what would I really miss - or benefit from? It is hard to see a city in a vacuum from personal experience and knowledge of it, and in relation to where people you know are. It is also about a sense of belonging, or a visceral and instinctive appeal.

I now that Glasgow has consistently inspired me for several years, whether I've been local to it or not For me, its three chief lures are its arts, its architecture, and providing bohemian and relaxed cafes, and an alternative to the centre. I also like knowing it has a long history which can still be felt, and it has an energy and an appeal I can't explain, that with the exception of Liverpool I have not found in its English counterparts.