The Glad Cafe is a not for profit music venue with a licensed cafe in the Shawlands area of southside Glasgow. It has something to offer people of any age or background in this diverse and vibrant local community.
The cafe serves high quality coffee from Machina Espresso and delicious cakes from Big Bear Bakery as well as a good selection of gluten free cakes from Wild Flours Bakery.
Since September 2018, we’ve been delighted to serve incredible vegetarian and vegan brunches from 9am-4pm made by the magnificent Hen of the Woods, the team behind the the brilliant Asian inspired menu at The Hug & Pint in the West End. As of January 2019, the award-winning culinary team at The Hug & Pint have also taken on evening service in the cafe from 5pm-10pm, with a rotating menu of pan-Asian vegan mains and small plates, including some favourites from the West End establishment.
Our cafe and venue bars serve a growing selection of great tasting craft beers, including Offshore Pilsner, Franciscan Wells Chieftain IPA and Shandon Stout, West's Wild West unfiltered lager, Blue Moon (and Sharps Orchard Cider!) on draft, and a fridge full of bottles and cans ranging from Drygate to Beavertown.
Our well equipped venue provides a welcome space in the southside for showcasing up and coming local musicians as well as internationally known acts. We feature indie, electronic, experimental, world and traditional musicians. The space has become known for its great acoustic and the quality of the programme which also includes film, drama, storytelling and philosophical talks. The exhibition space in the cafe also hosts a changing feast of visual delight curated by two of our volunteers, and this combined with the six monthly zine, the Glad Rag, adds to our on-going representation of southside creativity!
We are the proud winners of the Scottish Cultural Awards for Best Venue 2016/17, and the Scottish Trad Awards Best Venue 2016/17!
As a Community Interest Company we work hard to support our sister charity the Glad Foundation, and our Co-operative venture Glad Rags Thrift Shop. Glad Rags Thrift puts its profits into supporting the Glad Foundation which runs free and affordable music workshops for local people.
We are also delighted to be the home of the fantastic Glad Community Choir.