One of the nicer tube stations, with reassuring CCTV and a bit of effort with some flowers to make…read moreit look a bit more appealing. It's close to the O2 Academy, and on gig night, this place is heaving. Otherwise, it's a pretty quiet stop, pretty small too. There's a bus stop right outside here with plenty of buses running down here like the 45 if you are heading to a gig and dont want to fork out more money for a tube ticket on top of your bus ticket. Plenty of parking space here too.

Bridge Street is just a Subway stop like any other, and as mentioned previously is the closest one…read moreto popular venues like the O2 Academy and The Citizens Theatre, there is however, another little place nearby that I've always found fascinating, but never quite had the courage to look into. The Cincinatti Club is a poker club just a few doors up from the station, and as far as I know the only poker club in Glasgow (bar those in casinos and pubs etc). I honestly have no idea what it's like inside, or what the setup is, but in my mind its permanently like a scene from Goodfellas.

One star, by default. By default, I hear you ask? When I visited yesterday (for the first time) I…read morediscovered there's actually barely any shops in Shawlands Arcade so I couldn't award it more stars even if I wanted to. It's like those urban adventuring photos you see online of abandoned shopping centres, overgrown with plants - although I'll concede this isn't actually overgrown with plants. I'd actually been quite intrigued by Shawlands Arcade and had even researched it online to see what shops were here. The info on their website is well out of date as I discovered that most shops are empty inside the arcade. So what is there? As at December 2014 there's Farmfoods, a picture framing store with an incredibly creepy moving mannequin out the front (not sure if he's meant to be santa or a wizard), a bargain store (notably called "The Bargain Store"), a Debra charity shop and the Kiosk. The rest of the shops lay empty and give the whole arcade an incredibly dismal, depressing vibe. Would I return here? No, honestly not. Perhaps one day someone with a bit of a vision will take over the arcade and turn it into a delightful shopping centre with lovely local shops, with tasty treats and an interesting bookshop. For now, it's really not worth visiting. In happier news, I believe the car park is quite cheap, especially now parking prices on Kilmarnock Road have gone up. Update: someone tweeted me to mention there is an Art Village in one of the shops, but it's closed on a Monday so look like I'll have to go back to check that out.

The Arcade has been a controversial presence in Shawlands for a few years: it has had a high…read moreturnover of shops and the lacklustre building makes it something of an eyesore. Yet it seems to be perking up: The bookstore reopened, the supermarket is still busy and the cafe is one of the few places where an outside meal doesn't mean wet food and cold fingers. It is starting to become a little bit of a centre for Shawlands: a local church uses it for "healing prayer" on Saturday mornings, and the Christmas market is increasingly popular. It is heavy on the charity shops, and has one odd addition: the carpets and calendar store. The overall feel is slightly rundown and tired, and the combination of pound stores and local businesses is unique: it has never really become the super-mall of its ambitions. Moves are constantly afoot to regenerate the arcade: it has the advantage of being covered which, during the Glasgow winter, makes it the place to escape the bitter cold.

If I'm parking in this area I pretty much always park at King Street car park which is about 5…read moreminutes walk away, but yesterday I was short on time so parked here. It's a multi storey car park and is very clean and spacious but the price way more expensive than King Street so I just can't give it more than 3 star. For parking 7 hours here it was £12.50 (OUCH) whereas King Street is just under £6. There's lifts, disabled access and easy-to-use pay stations. Still, way too pricey.

It's a very clean garage. Well lit. I have never found it…read morevery full. Not very expensive. They have an issue with the main payment machine on the albion street entrance, which takes only credit card or exact change. And versus street parking cost, it's not very expensive.

Govan Shopping Centre has had a makeover and are now OPEN on Sunday's…read more There have been some great changes made over the year great selection of new shops, almost all of the centre's units are now occupied. Some of the shops now at the shopping centre are: - Home Bargains Iceland Greggs British Heart Foundation Farmfoods Albemarle Bond Jewellers and Pawnbrokers McColls Subway Forde Opticians Card Factory Deans Super-store Post Office Fruit & Veg stall Woman's Clothes stall (everything is £5) Free parking plus the adjoining bus terminus and Subway Station. Opening hours are 8am to 6pm from Monday to Saturday - and now also 10am to 5pm on Sundays.

Just a quick hop off the Govan Subway will find you in the Govan Cross Shopping Centre. You'll…read morepretty much find what you expect to find in this place, Coop store, farm-foods, wee cafe/bakery, bargain books stand, hardware store etc... Nothing really to write home about but a good amenity for local shoppers none the less. Unless you find yourself in Sunny Govan then there really ain't much of a reason to set sights on this place as the stores here don't offer anything extra in relation to the ones you'll find in your local area.... Oh, i may aswell make mention of the Christmas decorations which were pretty cool and traditional, not these fancy smancy led lights and such.

I don't have a whole lot of love for car parks, especially ones that look as worn and dilapidated…read moreas this one. We used to park here pretty much every time we came into town but I got emotionally worn down by those ticket re-sellers and after an agressive confrontation, stopped parking here. (If you don't know, this car park used to have paper ticket machines, which people would ask you to give to them when you left. They would then try to re-sell your ticket to people entering the car park and had a tendency to get a bit shouty if you refused). Thankfully now the paper tickets have been replaced by parking machines where you input your car registration to pay. If you don't have change, you can do it by phone (or app) and once you've called one, it will remember your car details and card so it is really quick to process. That, combined with the fact that city centre parking is now £3 an hour, this is a good place to park if you're going to be out in Merchant City. I paid £6.40 (including the phone payment fee of 40p) for 10 hours parking yesterday. The downsides of this car park: it's not in the nicest part of town, the car park itself is filled with holes and there aren't really properly marked lines. I'm not sure how safe your car actually is here seeing as it's just an open space, that being said I've never had any problems. It's super handy for St Enoch shopping centre, and the parking here is considerably cheaper than the St Enoch mutli storey.

It's hard to review a garage and be 5-star-worthy excited about it. So that's the reason for the 4…read morestars. My car broke down on the bank holiday Monday, and the AA towed my car here for me. Halfords was closed on the bank holiday but apparently it's ok to leave your car in the carpark and stick the keys through the door (even though it says not to on the door). I got a call early on Tuesday morning to check what the car needed (a new drive shaft) and they quoted me just over £300 to get it done. I was worrying later that afternoon that I hadn't heard anything, and they weren't great at answering the phone. I got through about 4pm and they confirmed it would be ready in an hour. When I arrived, the car was ready to go and my payment was collected (bang on the quote he'd given me that morning). The guy was super friendly and helpful with good banter, and even showed me my broken drive shaft. I believe the parts come with a 12 month warranty as well. While Halfords isn't usually my garage of choice, I was pretty impressed with their speed, price and customer service.

I first parked at Shields Road by accident, I'd gotten myself lost in the confusing streets of…read moreTradeston and couldn't find Bridge Street. I now prefer Shields Road, so it all worked out well in the end. It's easy to get to off the M8 or M77, so is very handy if you're coming from the south or east. It's located opposite the beautiful Scotland Street School which is always nice to look at early in the morning! There is a multi storey carpark as well as an outdoor parking area, meaning there is always lots of parking spaces no matter what time of day you arrive. I always just park in the outdoor area as I hate the monotony of driving up and down levels trying to find a spot. From the outside carpark it is maybe a 3 minute walk to the underground which even on a wet weather day is bearable (with a brolly). The station itself is small and simple. One platform, inner circle on the left, outer on the right and trains come about every 5 minutes so you're not waiting long. From Shields Road it's 8 minutes to Buchanan Street, or 6 minutes to St Enoch (my two main stations). For car parking and a return underground ticket you'll pay £5 which I think is great value, especially now that onstreet parking in the city centre has gone up again. I often take advantage of The Fish People shop when returning to my car to pick up some fresh fish for dinner that night, which is very handy. I can't think of what Shields Road would need to get this to be a 5 star review, I guess I'm just not that passionate about public transport. Fun fact: I was petrified of the underground for at least a year.

Park and Ride! (£5 all day parking inc return subway ticket)…read more For years I've either caught the train or driven the hour to north Glasgow on the M77/M8. I've often wondered about Shields Road Park and Ride subway station, but until this week never had the opportunity to check it out. Well blow me down if this isn't the best way to get into the city centre without all the hassle of fighting my way through that last few miles of gridlock, or trying to find an affordable parking space. I used the facility late morning/midweek. There were plenty of parking bays available outside the station, and probably plenty in the multi-storey car park too. It was quite a straightforward procedure. I took a ticket at the barrier on my way in, parked, then showed it to the lady at the subway ticket booth. Five pounds was handed over in return for a return subway ticket and the parking ticket which would get me out through the barrier on my return. Worked a treat, and really suited my travel plans. Its opposite the Scotland Street School Museum so I managed to get a little photo opportunity to boot. Win win!