Visit the likes of Britannia Panopticon and Govanhill Baths at Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival.
Opening the doors to a number of experiences including buildings, sites and trails across the city for one week only, Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival is back. For 2021, the city-wide festival is offering you the chance to explore the city and you can choose from a wide selection of specially-curated experiences, all for free. This festival, taking place from September 13 to 19, will be throwing open the doors of over 100 historic buildings, theatres, museum stores, factories, studios, breweries & more, across the city, so there’s bound to be something for everyone’s taste.
The Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival programme boasts a huge range of experiences to choose from, whether you’re looking to immerse yourself in an in-person trail, such as Lost Railways of the West End, cycle down Glasgow Canal, get an insight into the brewing process with Hidden Lane Brewery, discover the history of Arlington Baths Club or take an atmospheric audio tour with the Glasgow Mural Trail.
Other highlights include a webinar from Lost Glasgow exploring Glasgow’s long love affair with its parks and green spaces; a behind-the-scenes hard hat tour of the ongoing renovation to Govanhill Baths, the result of the community-run Save Our Pool campaign and a look inside the iconic Barrowland Ballroom, which like many venues can finally open its doors once again.
Visitors will also get to go along to Barras Market in the year of its 100th anniversary and an in-person trail through Glasgow’s Old Markets, which will trace Glaswegians’ changing relationship with food through the centuries and explore the connection between local food produce, carbon neutrality and community spirit.
The festival has been organised by Glasgow Building Preservation Trust since it began in 1990 as part of the City of Culture celebrations. Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival is the largest of a family of Doors Open Days events happening across Scotland throughout September, coordinated nationally by the Scottish Civic Trust and supported by Historic Environment Scotland.
Take a tour of the inside of Kelvin Hall, Maryhill’s Burgh Hall, the Govanhill Baths and Glasgow Gurdwara’s, alongside multiple iconic buildings in the city. Plus, there’s a chance to see Alasdair Gray’s Archive before it opens up to the public.
All of the events from this year’s programme have been designed to ensure audiences feel safe and for some of the tours it is eseential to book such as the Arlington Bath tours, the Bridgeton bus depot and the Garnethill Synagogue. There are also lots of experiences taking place outdoors, including immersive audio tours, performances, clean ups and gardening activities.
COP 26 is happening in Glasgow in November, and this year’s festival will also be an opportunity to discuss how celebrating the cities built heritage can contribute to a greener Glasgow. To discover the programme for Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival, head here.