Royal Exchange Square

4.5 star rating on Unilocal I am not convinced.
In my mind this really was a square you would walk past without hardly even noticing it if I am being honest. So I have had to have a think as to what would bring it such high ratings. Plus points for me are of course the duke of Wellington statue. For some reason like many Glaswegians I love the cone on his head, just says something about our sense of humour I think. But… It has its own Unilocal listings so can be rated highly on its own.
I’m struggling to think of anything much else. It’s got some nice shiny Christmas lights that hang over it at night and look pretty … Ohhh and there are some bars and restaurants as well that could be worth a wee look … And that’s about it.
Average square. Average 3 star rating.

Royal Exchange Square is the perfect arena for al fresco entertaining and people watching, morning noon and evening.

Royal Exchange Square is one of those breathtaking places in Glasgow that you can wander into and feel like you’ve been transported back in time, or to a city on the continent. It is a really gorgeous space, with welcoming archways from Buchanan Street. One of the archways (the more southern one) has scaffolding on it just now to repair it, but I believe the other one is just as beautiful as ever.
I love the fairy lights they have up here during the winter, I just wish they’d leave them up year round. Yes, I know that Glasgow doesn’t get dark til 11pm in summer but they’re still so beautiful.
We had our wedding photos taken in this square and the photos are a really gorgeous reminder of what a wonderful city is. We even got a photo with the Duke of Wellington statue with a cone on his head (a daily occurrence in Glasgow).

It used to be that Glasgow was considered the rough, unkempt, troublesome cousin to the sleek, people pleasing nation’s capital Edinburgh. Even now, Glasgow finds it hard to shake that gritty working class Clydeside image as tourists flock to the picture postcard city 45 minutes on the train east. It’s easy to understand why; maneuvering the winding cobbled streets that lead from Waverly Station to the castle at the top of the hill is hard to beat.
However, since being voted Europe’s City of Culture in 1990, Glasgow has been working hard to reinvent itself as Scotland’s style capital. There have been many introductions to the city such as Princes Square, Merchant City and Ashton Lane in the West End that boast top shopping, restaurants and nightlife in as aesthetically pleasing a setting as you would find anywhere in the UK.
However, my favourite Glasgow makeover is Royal Exchange Square, sandwiched in between the city centre shopping meccas of Buchanan and Queen Street. The square is a C shape lined with only the most exclusive retailers, including Reiss clothing, the Rainbow Room salon and One Up, a nightclub favoured by footballers and their WAGS (Liverpool striker and Football Writer’s Association Footballer of the Year Steven Gerrard held his stag do here). In the centre is Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art, a stunning neoclassical building flanked by Glasgow’s unofficial mascot, The Duke of Wellington, who almost always has a traffic cone placed on his head courtesy of the city’s goths who like to hang around under the gallery’s Corinthian pillars in their baggy jeans and black eyeliner, bemoaning but secretly enjoying their outcast status.
In the summer, restaurants Di Maggio’s and The Grill at the Square pull their tables outside to the sunshine where diners can drink a glass of white wine and pretend they are in Paris. However, it is the winter when the square really comes into its own. Fairy lights are strewn from roof to roof, giving it a magical quality as shoppers scurry to finish their Christmas shopping.
Losing Borders was a massive blow to the square. However, there is no doubt the space will be snapped up by a prime retailer as rumours of a four floor flagship Topshop store prevail. Whoever takes over will be lucky to join Glasgow’s most sophisticated space.

Royal Exchange Square, at the heart of the Merchant City, is one of my favourite parts of Glasgow.
Home to the Gallery of Modern Art, several coffee shops and restaurants, and the infamous Duke of Wellington Statue (complete with orange traffic cone atop his heid!), it’s a lovely part of the city centre.
Best when lit up with fairy lights around Christmastime, it is bookended by the briliant GoMA and the Borders building. Very quintessentially Glaswegian in architecture, and beautiful when lit up at night.
The steps on the back of the Borders building are a great place to sit with a sandwich on a sunny day — probably the main reason it was frequented by the young alternative teens and skaters for a few years.

Royal Exchange Square houses both the Gallery of Modern Art and a range of bars, shops and coffee houses, with even the odd restaurant. Just away from the Buchanan Galleries and near George Square, it is a lovely place to visit in the cold winter nights, as the sky is lit up by nets of white bulbs, giving it a beautiful, festive cheer.
During the day, it is not so great: skaters congregate here, much to the irritation of the gallery, and it is a fascinating place to people watch, as long as it is from a distance. The outside tables from the bars and restaurants don’t quite manage to give it the continental atmosphere, except in the very height of summer.
I always make an effort to include Royal Exchange Square on any tour that I give to visitors, especially at night. It is charming and the fact that the bars are not the cheapest means that it feels very safe. And the illuminations add a rare touch of romance to the stroll.

Royal Exchange Square has a very opulent feel, with the Gallery of Modern Art at one end, some nice shops and restaurants dotted round the side, and the sadly soon to be gone Borders at the other.
During summer the square manages to be one of the few parts of the city that even partially succeeds in nailing the continental street café atmosphere. Venues such as The Social may be uttely insipid, but the ability to sit outside in a bustling environment makes it almost bearable come June each year. Winter time is also a winner as the fairy lights that form a sheet over the top of the square never cease to be spectacular, and are often used as a picture-​postcard image of the city.
The area used to be full of noisy little goth kids but they now seem to have moved elsewhere. It’s a shame as it used to be quite funny watching them irritate the toffe-​nosed cutomers of some of the pricier shops round here. If the angsty little self-​harmers return i’ll bump the score up to 5 stars.

The Royal Exchange Square is a small square surrounded by cafes and bars with pavement seating and exclusive shops, bedding the Gallery of Modern Art which is the central focal point. It is one of my favourite areas of Glasgow particularly at Christmas time when the fairy lights make it almost magical.
During the summer, it is perfect for people to congregate on the small steps surrounding the Gallery of Modern Art or sit in one of the pavement cafes with a cool drink. What I like about it is that it doesn’t attract as many people as other larger, more open squares or parks and so remains a tranquil spot with just the right atmosphere.
There is a taxi rank at the Queen Street end which means you can always get home safely and easily after a night out in one of the pubs, restaurants or clubs.
It is also home to the Duke of Wellington statue which is a tourist must-​see.