On a weekday afternoon in an unassuming corner of the West End, SWG3 is humming with life. Fans queue around the box office for an upcoming gig, artists zip past on bicycles en route to their studios, and a mix of tenants that occupy the row of rounded railway arch units converse easily with customers.
When SWG3 was founded two decades ago in a derelict warehouse, this section of Eastvale Place, a kilometre south of Finnieston, would not really be considered part of Glasgow’s west end. The old galvaniser’s yard, flanked by the motorway, was a ghost of the city’s industrial past.
“From the minute I stepped foot in the building, there was an energy about it,” Andrew Fleming-Brown recalls. There were missing windows, the building was “knackered”, but it was perfect.
Today, the venue is a clutch of different spaces. There’s the original warehouse building, the Galvanizers and the Galvanizers Yard, the TV Studio, the Warehouse, The Poetry Club, the Zinc Bar and more, covering thousands of square feet.
Alongside George Matheson, the SWG3 founder had a vision to create “an alternative space for creative production”. It was a time when Glasgow’s creative community was spread thinly across the city, disconnected from event spaces. Fleming-Brown wanted to create a place that would bring everyone together. “We very much looked at it as a long-term plan,” he says.
What started as a group of artist studios has, over 20 years, become one of Europe’s most coveted independent, multi-disciplinary arts venues. Its reach touches every creative industry you can think of, from art, design and music to fashion, food, shopping, and nightlife. It plays host to some of Glasgow’s best gigs, club nights, and exhibitions.
“This place is so many different things to different people,” he says. “Depending on how you enter the space, and at what point in time you entered the space, you’ll know it for something different.”
SWG3 always had deep roots in Glasgow’s art scene, but the loss of two of the city’s most iconic music venues altered its course. When they bought the Galvanizers Yard, the idea was to host major art installations, but today, they have yet to use the space on a large scale for visual art.
The Arches closed in 2015. Then, three years later, the infamous 2018 fire at Glasgow School of Art spread to the O2 ABC, and the city lost another of its most popular music and nightlife hubs. SWG3 ended up taking on the nights and gigs that were previously held in those spaces. “They were two massively important venues to the city, and a great loss,” Fleming-Brown says.
They were just taking on the whole building in 2015 when The Arches shut down. It was a toss up whether to use the bottom of the building as more workspace or an event space, so when The Arches’ events programme was looking for a new home, the decision was made for them.
“The ABC was different,” he adds. “We bought the Galvanizers and we were developing it as the design element of an arts venue for more exhibitions. We definitely wanted to have a music programme in there, but we didn’t anticipate it being as busy as it was.”
It’s why the space doesn’t have its own dedicated bar to service it. “It’s not been planned at all, but we definitely responded to what’s happening in the city,” he says. “I guess we have always done that with the programme. If there’s a need and there’s an opportunity, and we can move in that direction. We’re not hemmed in with buildings all around us, so we have the opportunity to do that.”
“We matured quite quickly over those two years,” he adds.
Adaptability is vital, especially for an arts organisation in Scotland. Fleming-Brown admits that the current conditions have been the most challenging SWG3 has ever faced in its 20 years. “The last 18 months have been really tough, more so than the pandemic,” he says. “In terms of business, I don’t think that’s unique to our industry, but we operate in events, hospitality and the arts. I believe those three sectors have been more hit in terms of the current economic climate.”
“It makes being here a really proud moment,” he adds, pausing. “We’re hanging in there. Twenty years flies by, doesn’t it?”
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Until this year, Fleming-Brown never really had the chance to look back. It was always about what was coming next for the venue. To mark the two-decade milestone, the team has been putting together a commemorative 20 Years of SWG3 book, curated by resident designer Phoebe Wilson and poet Leyla Josephine. It has given Fleming-Brown the opportunity to reflect, poring over sentimental photos and stories from over the years.
“There are loads I’m proud of,” he says. “Mostly, my pride comes out in seeing the team make their achievements, and the developments they’ve all done. I’m just a part of this whole journey, but so many people have come in and made it their own.”
As far as looking ahead goes, exciting developments are on the horizon. In September 2024, SWG3 was given the green light to build a 142-bedroom multi-purpose hotel at the corner of Eastvale Place and Sandyford Street in partnership with Stallan-Brand. Plans include two restaurants, two bars, co-working spaces, a gym, a movement studio, and a rooftop terrace. Fleming-Brown hopes to break ground by the start of 2027.
“It’s a very different environment physically from when we started 20 years ago,” Fleming-Brown says. “When we started, you felt that you were on the edges of the West End. Nobody knew what the name of the street was. Now we feel like we are a lot more in the middle of that story, and a bigger part of it.”
The next generation of SWG3 will be about building meaningful, deeper partnerships with the rest of the city that will see the area dominate as a culture district for Glasgow. “I’m more proud of what’s to come than what’s been achieved,” he adds.
Marissa MacWhirter is a columnist and feature writer at The Herald, and the editor of The Glasgow Wrap. The newsletter is curated between 5-7am each morning, bringing the best of local news to your inbox each morning without ads, clickbait, or hyperbole. Oh, and it’s free. She can be found on X @marissaamayy1
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