The fall-out from the recent BBC Disclosure documentary, Welcome to Glasgow, has elicited plenty of reaction and commentary, which perhaps was the point of it all.
Whether you feel its depiction of life on the ground in the city centre is completely on the money or not, the programme-makers have shone a light on aspects of life in parts of Glasgow city centre that should be a cause for concern.
This is especially true when it comes to issues such as the tensions around immigration that reached a crescendo during the summer, drug dealing and violence.
But did the programme go too far? Has it unfairly created an impression that there are “no-go zones”, including the so-called “Four Corners”, in the city that should be avoided at all costs? Will it fundamentally damage the reputation of Glasgow among both its citizens and those who visit the city from elsewhere in the UK and beyond?
As far as Mike Grieve, a local business owner and prominent advocate for Glasgow, is concerned, the answer to all three questions is a resounding yes.
And you can certainly see why he thinks this way. Mr Grieve is the long-standing managing director of the famed Sub Club on Jamaica Street (not far from the Four Corners) and the chairman of the Night-Time Economy Commission, which was set up recently to promote Glasgow as a leading international nightlife destination.
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He is among a group of business owners and public sector figures who are working tirelessly to champion the city centre and drive forward the changes that it evidently needs. This task has been especially challenging in the aftermath of the pandemic, from which Glasgow has been slow to recover, and more recently the Union Corner blaze, which brought new challenges to the area around Central Station, so often the scene of flashpoints in the city centre.
However, Mr Grieve is unhappy about what he perceives to be a lack of balance in the Disclosure documentary and the image it projects of Glasgow to the wider world.
“I think it presented a very distorted view of the city centre,” Mr Grieve said in an exclusive interview with The Herald published today. “I think it was very damaging to the image of Glasgow city centre, and I don’t think it was in any way a fair representation of the normal day-to-day.
“I’ve got a very strong view about that. In actual fact, I think conflating the actions of a mob of anti-immigrant protesters, basically, with a level of general disorder in the city centre is completely distorting the picture of the city centre.
“And, you know, we see a lot of improvements happening in the city centre at the moment. I think people are working very hard to bring about progressive change for the city centre and I think that’s, as I say, a very damaging and not in any way balanced documentary.”
Mr Grieve also took issue with the narrow scope of the programme. He said it did not reflect the reality for businesses which operate in the locale and observed that filming for the documentary “covered a relatively small area in Glasgow city centre, in particular St Enoch Square, in the immediate aftermath of large demonstrations by masked far-right yobs”.
“Most of it was filmed during daylight hours so [was] not directly relevant to the night-time economy and clearly not indicative of general levels of anti-social and violent behaviour in the city centre generally,” Mr Grieve said.
“Almost everyone I have spoken to with an interest in the city centre reacted in the same way as I did in rejecting the characterisation of the city centre as a no-go zone.
“Universally, in my experience, hospitality operators have been outraged by the unfair and distorted portrayal of the city and the damage it’s likely to do to public confidence.”
BBC Scotland responded to Mr Grieve’s comments by asserting that the documentary was “fair and balanced, accurately reflecting a broad range of perspectives”.
A spokesman said: “It focused mainly on parts of the city centre that Police Scotland had already identified as crime hotspots. Many voices from the local community, including police and some who work in the night-time economy, have welcomed BBC Disclosure’s focus on the challenges facing that area.”
Putting the editorial merits of the programme to one side, there are clearly some deep-seated problems in Glasgow. As the BBC documentary highlighted, tensions over immigration and race spilled over into ugly scenes as rival protesters clashed in the city centre over the summer, and those pressures have not gone away. The scars of poverty are clear to see and the condition of parts of the city centre continues to leave a lot to be desired. And there are areas where it definitely does not feel safe to be in the later evening, with inadequate transport provision only adding to this problem.
But while it is important to acknowledge these issues and the need for them to be tackled, Mr Grieve's comments about the efforts going on to improve the city deserve to be recognised.
The Night-Time Economy Commission will strive to address some of the problems Glasgow faces, with its remit including working with partners to improve public safety and connectivity alongside advocating for the sector.
A new night-time economy manager, the first post of its kind in Scotland, is currently being recruited who will provide a “vital link” between the industry and the local authority and drive practical improvements to support the sector; the post is being funded by Glasgow City Council.
Hopefully, the work of the commission will have such a positive impact on transport and public safety that more people feel sufficiently confident to socialise in the city centre once again.
Consumer sentiment may also be boosted by signs that commercial property investors are feeling good about Glasgow, as evidenced by a £160 million plan to regenerate Chinatown in the north of the city centre. Property expert CBRE has highlighted the success of Bothwell Street in attracting major companies to new and refurbished buildings on the thoroughfare.
Sentiment has also been helped this summer by the Commonwealth Games, which anecdotally handed a timely boost to the morale of the city.
And this week's launch of Destination Glasgow, a new body that combines efforts to attract inward investment, conferences and tourists to the city, will hopefully bring even more business to the “Dear Green Place”.
Of course, it will take more than sentiment to address the issues highlighted by the BBC documentary. But it is possible to see why Mr Grieve feels that the programme told only one part of Glasgow's story at this moment in time.
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