We’re in the lift of Glasgow’s hottest, newest “stay and play” location, The Social Hub, where a grey-haired gent with a walking frame is chatting to a local woman who’s about to head out into the rain. From their banter, they seem like neighbours and friends. We later learn they are.
On the ground floor, in the urban chic foyer and communal area – with easy seating, gaming station, sound system and vinyl records for guests to enjoy – a suited and booted 30-something businessman dumps his briefcase on a nearby bench to answer a table tennis challenge thrown out by a beaming teenage Asian student. We’re tempted to spectate as the contest heats up but become engaged in conversation with the older gentleman, who tells us he is here on business from Los Angeles and this place is “home from home” for him: “Except for the weather,” he quips. He is a long-stay guest, and the lass is his equally long-stay, much younger neighbour.
Meanwhile, my pal and I – both gals of “a certain age” – are here from Aberdeen on a shopping and sightseeing jolly. , which opened last year at Candleriggs, smack bang in the heart of Glasgow’s vibrant Merchant City, clearly attracts an eclectic, cosmopolitan clientele. That’s because this is no ordinary hotel.
It is breaking the mould in leisure, work, and student stays. It is “hybrid hospitality with a purpose” and with a conscience too, having been certified by B Lab (the non-profit organisation behind the B Corp m.
