Local guide · Glasgow City, Scotland

Your Glasgow restaurant: a menu for Scotland’s biggest, still growing city

Glasgow City had 654,330 residents in mid-2025, more than any other Scottish council area, and gained 4,010 in a year while Scotland as a whole barely moved. Keep your printed menu; a QR code on each table opens the same dishes on the guest’s phone, translated, with their allergens.

Café table on a wet Glasgow pavement at dusk, in front of red sandstone tenements, with a red QR code stand, a plate of haggis and an amber cocktail
AI-generated illustration

Key facts

Glasgow in figures

residents of Glasgow City in mid-2025, the largest council area in Scotland1
654,330
population growth in the year to mid-2025, 4,010 more people, among the four fastest in Scotland1
+0.6%
for a street café permit in the city centre band; £50 in major town centres, £20 elsewhere2
£110 per m²
overnight visits by overseas visitors in 2024, sixth among UK towns3
736,000

Growth

Scotland’s largest city, and still growing

Glasgow City had 654,330 residents in mid-2025, ahead of the City of Edinburgh (531,370). It grew by 0.6%, or 4,010 people, in a year when Scotland as a whole gained only 2,200 people and reached 5,545,500.1

Births outnumbered deaths in Glasgow City by 54: deaths exceeded births in 30 of Scotland’s 32 council areas. The four largest Scottish cities also have the highest shares of people aged 16 to 64.1

For your menu

A growing city keeps sending you guests who have never sat at your tables: a menu they can open from the street saves them the guesswork.

Local rules

A street café permit, priced by the square metre

Scotland does not use England’s pavement licence. Tables and chairs outside your premises need your council’s permission; in Glasgow, a street café on the public footway needs a Section 59 Permit from the city council.245

The council charges by area, in three bands: £110 per square metre in the city centre, £50 in a major town centre and £20 everywhere else. The form asks which band you are in, the length and width of the area, the full width of the pavement and your opening days and times.26

A dimensioned location plan lets the council confirm the cost, which you then pay by phone. The conditions sit in an annual agreement, and trading without a permit may be an offence that puts existing licences at risk. Questions go to [email protected]; the page gives no processing time.27

For your menu

Every square metre outside is paid for: measure the space before you apply, and plan how many tables, and how many QR codes, it really holds.

Visitors and languages

Visitors from abroad

Overseas visitors made 736,000 overnight visits to Glasgow in 2024, sixth among UK towns, behind Edinburgh’s 2,559,000. VisitBritain warns that town figures outside London rest on small samples.3

For your menu

A visitor who cannot read the menu orders the one dish they recognise, or asks your staff to translate the rest.

Local food

Seven Bib Gourmands among sixteen addresses

The MICHELIN Guide lists 16 restaurants for Glasgow and its surroundings: two with one star, seven Bib Gourmands and seven selected addresses.8

The guide flags vegetarian options at 15 of the 16, vegan options at 12, gluten-free at 8 and halal at 6. At Stravaigin, a homemade haggis shares the menu with furikake, tom yum and lentil dahl, under the motto ‘think global, eat local’.89

For your menu

When almost every table in the selection has a vegetarian option, guests expect yours to be marked, along with what is in it.

According to the guides

Five MICHELIN addresses, from Partick to Sauchiehall Street

All five are in the current MICHELIN Guide selection for Glasgow and its surroundings: both of its one-star restaurants, two Bib Gourmands and one selected address, from a set menu at ££££ to sharing plates at ££.

Menyu has no link with these five restaurants and did not contact them. They are taken from the MICHELIN Guide, and their own websites showed menus, bookings or opening hours when we checked on 21 October 2026.

  1. Cail Bruich

    Great Western Road10 · Modern cuisine · ££££

    • 1 MICHELIN Star 202610

    Its name means ‘to eat well’; Lorna McNee cooks a set menu where the sauces stand out, such as the port sauce served with Perthshire grouse.10

  2. UNALOME by Graeme Cheevers

    Finnieston12 · Modern British · ££££

    • 1 MICHELIN Star 202612

    Graeme Cheevers, a local chef, builds his dishes on Scottish produce, from Orkney scallops to North Sea cod.12

  3. Ox and Finch

    Sauchiehall Street14 · Mediterranean, modern cuisine · ££

    • Bib Gourmand 202614

    A bistro in its second decade, refurbished in early 2025 with a new menu of Mediterranean sharing dishes such as cod cheeks with chorizo, tomato and morcilla.14

  4. Stravaigin

    Gibson Street9 · International · ££

    • MICHELIN Guide selection 20268

    ‘Think global, eat local’: homemade haggis next to furikake, tom yum and lentil dahl, served in a ground-floor café-bar and in The Cellar.9

Questions

Questions and answers

Do I need a permit for tables outside in Glasgow?

Yes. A street café on the public footway needs a Section 59 Permit from Glasgow City Council: you fill in the online form with a dimensioned location plan, the council confirms the cost and you pay by phone. Trading without one may be an offence.

General questions on road and footway permits go to [email protected].27

How much does a street café permit cost in Glasgow?

It depends on the area you occupy and the band you are in: £110 per square metre in the city centre, £50 in a major town centre and £20 in other neighbourhoods. The council sets the final cost from your plan.2

Does the English pavement licence apply in Glasgow?

No. The government guidance on pavement licences applies to England only. In Scotland, tables and chairs outside your premises need your council’s permission, and in Glasgow that is the Section 59 Permit. The UK page sets out the national rules on both sides of the border.245

Rules across the United Kingdom
What allergen information do Scottish rules ask for?

Food Standards Scotland asks food businesses to tell guests if a dish contains any of the 14 allergens that UK law lists. For food that is not prepacked, the information must be available before purchase, on a menu, a chalkboard, a shelf label or from a member of staff.

On Menyu, each dish can show its allergens among the same 14.19

Can I use Menyu with prices in pounds?

Yes: choose pounds sterling in the settings and type your prices in £; nothing is converted. Set UK time there as well, and the opening status follows Glasgow’s clock, though it reads in French.

The plans themselves are billed in euros: €49, €79 or €149 a month.

Can I e-mail my regulars about a new menu?

Yes, with Premium: you build segments of your guests and send them e-mail campaigns. There are no text messages.

Are these Glasgow restaurants Menyu customers?

No. They come from the MICHELIN Guide, which lists 16 restaurants for Glasgow and its surroundings, and none was contacted. Each entry links to its source.8

With Menyu

What Menyu can do for a Glasgow menu

Menyu publishes your menu at one fixed address with a QR code in your colours. For a Glasgow restaurant, the useful parts are the outdoor tables, translations, allergens and staying in touch with regulars; the limits that apply in the UK sit right after.

  • One QR code for each paid-for table

    Your QR code, in your colours and with your logo, goes on every table of the street café and always opens the same address: a dish or a price you change shows up at once, with no reprint. Set the currency to pounds in the settings before you type your prices.

    • QR code in your colours, with your logoIncluded
    • One address for good, dishes updated at any timeIncluded
    • Menu prices in pounds, chosen in the settingsIncluded
  • Your dishes in the visitor’s language

    Menyu translates the content of your menu into 25 languages, such as Spanish, German, Malay and Thai. Read the result before publishing; the buttons around it stay in English.

    • Menu content in 25 languages, translation to reviewIncluded
  • The 14 allergens shown before the order

    Food Standards Scotland wants allergen information available before purchase. On Menyu, each dish shows its allergens among the 14, and guests can keep only vegetarian dishes or leave out the allergens they choose.

    • The 14 allergens, dish by dishIncluded
    • A vegetarian filter and one for each of the 14 allergensIncluded

Limits

What Menyu does not do

  • Menu prices can show in £, but Menyu’s monthly plans are billed in €.
  • With UK time set, the opening status follows Glasgow’s clock, but it reads in French, ‘Ouvert · Jusqu’à…’, even on an English menu.
  • Only a restaurant in France can open a Menyu payment account: guests in Glasgow cannot pay online, and orders are paid at the counter.
  • The sign-up phone field, which you can skip, accepts a French ten-digit number only and turns down a UK one.
  • Orders through Menyu have no tip and no service charge.

Method

How this page was made

Researched and written by the Menyu team, a publisher based in Montpellier, France, from the pages cited, all read on 21 October 2026: National Records of Scotland, VisitBritain, Glasgow City Council, GOV.UK, Food Standards Scotland, the MICHELIN Guide and the restaurants’ own sites. None of the restaurants is a Menyu customer. The image is AI-generated and does not depict a real place.

Sources

  1. National Records of Scotland, Mid-2025 population estimatesnrscotland.gov.uk · accessed 21 October 2026

  2. Glasgow City Council, Temporary Street Café Permitglasgow.gov.uk · accessed 21 October 2026

  3. VisitBritain, Inbound visits and spend: trends by UK townvisitbritain.org · accessed 21 October 2026

  4. Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, Pavement licences: guidancegov.uk · accessed 21 October 2026

  5. GOV.UK, Permission to place tables and chairs in the road (Scotland)gov.uk · accessed 21 October 2026

  6. Glasgow City Council, Temporary Street Café Permit Application Formglasgow.gov.uk · accessed 21 October 2026

  7. Glasgow City Council, Apply for Roads and Footway Permitglasgow.gov.uk · accessed 21 October 2026

  8. MICHELIN Guide, MICHELIN restaurants, Glasgow and surroundingsguide.michelin.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  9. MICHELIN Guide, Stravaigin, Glasgowguide.michelin.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  10. MICHELIN Guide, Cail Bruich, Glasgowguide.michelin.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  11. Cail Bruich, Cail Bruich, official websitecailbruich.co.uk · accessed 21 October 2026

  12. MICHELIN Guide, UNALOME by Graeme Cheevers, Glasgowguide.michelin.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  13. UNALOME by Graeme Cheevers, UNALOME by Graeme Cheevers, official websiteunalomebygc.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  14. MICHELIN Guide, Ox and Finch, Glasgowguide.michelin.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  15. Ox and Finch, Ox and Finch, official websiteoxandfinch.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  16. MICHELIN Guide, GaGa, Glasgowguide.michelin.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  17. GaGa, GaGa, official websitegagaglasgow.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  18. Stravaigin, Stravaigin, official websitestravaigin.co.uk · accessed 21 October 2026

  19. Food Standards Scotland, Allergen labellingfoodstandards.gov.scot · accessed 21 October 2026