A WOMAN recovering from addiction has vowed to open Scotland's first dry bar in Glasgow city centre.
Donna Campbell, who has been clean for the past three-and-a-half years, hopes the cafe, bar and club venue will become a mecca for recovering addicts and members of the public seeking an alcohol-free night out.
With the help of business accelerator programme E-Spark, she is hoping to open in time for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
The 52-year-old, from The Gorbals, said: "There are between 15,000 and 20,000 people in Glasgow alone who are in recovery from addictions and they have got nowhere to go and socialise.
"There is nowhere for them to go that is free from alcohol. There is nothing like this in Scotland.
"There is alcohol everywhere, and for a lot of people, first it could be a temptation for them going out where there is alcohol, but also, it is really boring going out with people who are drinking because you are not on the same level as them."
Glasgow's dry bar - which Ms Campbell is thinking of calling The Next Step after the well known 12-step addiction recovery programme - will follow in the footsteps of The Brink in Liverpool.
That dry bar opened two years ago and has attracted top acts and Ms Campbell hopes similar big names will perform music, theatre and spoken word at her club.
She says her not-for-profit venue will serve alcohol-free fruit juices and cocktails, good food, and will be open from 8am until 10pm during the week and from 8am until 3am at weekends.
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