It’s official: the best shopping centre in the entire UK is Glasgow’s Silverburn. As decreed by the SCEPTRE awards – AKA the retail Oscars – the jewel of Glasgow’s southside has finally made it to the big leagues nearly 20 years after opening.
The judges were impressed by Silverburn’s growth in the past 18 months, noting ‘record-breaking results’ and accolades such as ‘Scotland’s first Haribo shop, Scotland’s largest Zara, Glasgow’s first Bershka and Pull & Bear stores and a King Pins bowling alley’. On paper, the place sounds pretty brilliant.
I’ve spent the past two decades visiting Silverburn once a week: buying school uniforms there as a kid, falling out with friends in the New Look changing rooms, and one time even fainting in Debenhams. Like most people from the south of Glasgow, I know Silverburn inside out, so what is it actually like?
The good
The death of the high street hasn’t hit Silverburn yet. Many a once-bustling mall has been emptied out in the past decade, but Silverburn seems to have escaped this fate. It’s even been able to find replacements for the site of its former Debenhams – a feat most town centres (Glasgow included) haven’t been able to pull off.
It’s nice to walk through a shopping centre and not feel like you’re in a living museum dedicated to ‘life in 1980s Britain’, instead seasonal installations – when we visited there were four huge tentacles emerging from the roof for Halloween – keep Silverburn fresh. Between the airy design and the fact that even at 11am on a random Thursday we struggled to find a parking spot, it definitely earns points for being a fairly pleasant, modern place to be.
Also, there’s loads of toilets, and they’re all clean. You don’t think that’s important until you’re three hours and two coffees deep in Christmas shopping with no end in sight, when a long queue for the bathroom becomes a problem.
The not-so-good
Silverburn is a pain to get to if you don’t have a car. The odd bus will shuttle you from the city centre, but unless you live in one of the few nearby houses, your only real option is a taxi. There’s not much to be done about this, but it is annoying, particularly in a city which is generally very good for public transport links.
Food options
This food court is nicer than most. Arching wooden pillars rise high above the dining area, and glass ceilings bring in a lot of natural light. Options are fairly diverse for dinner – choose from Nando’s, Wagamamas, the Real Greek, an Italian, and five different burger restaurants – but lunch or breakfast food is severely lacking. The Starbucks, which sits high above the rest of the court, offers excellent people-watching opportunities.
Shopping options
A few years ago, what felt like one in every three or four storefronts was boarded up in Silverburn, but it seems to have bounced back fairly well. There’s a pretty good range of clothes and shoe shops, loads of places to buy mid-range jewellery, and a Boots, but that’s about it. If you need clothes or basics, this is the place to go. Anything else demands a trip into town.
Other Glasgow shopping centres
Glasgow has loads of malls and most of them are a lot easier to access than Silverburn. Braehead, just south of the river Clyde, has most shops you could possibly need, plus an IKEA just across the road, and a huge leisure complex complete with dry ski slopes, dodgems and laser tag. Buses run frequently to Braehead from across Glasgow, making it a more feasible option for many.
The Buchanan Galleries, right in the centre of town, is due a huge makeover, which could turn it back into the hub it used to be. Right now, though, it has several independent retailers selling locally made gifts and produce, making it the ideal place to buy a birthday or Christmas present.
Finally, the Glasgow Fort is absolutely huge. More of a retail park than a shopping centre, it has pretty much any chain-brand you could ever need, although it is also a bit out of the way and most easily reached by a car.
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