This American-style chain has been in Glasgow for 30 years but for how much longer? |
The news that 16 TGI Fridays restaurants, including two in Scotland, are set to close comes with a side order of déjà vu more potent than one of the chain’s signature Long Island Iced Teas.
Just two years ago, the shock demise of Hard Rock Café on Buchanan Street in Glasgow sparked similar conversations surrounding our changing appetite for chain restaurants.
Weighing in at the time, I argued that the 10 years since the firm had moved into the Buchanan Street building, once home to the Athenaeum Theatre, had been nothing short of transformative for Glasgow’s food scene.
From a city that famously faced an 18-year cold shoulder from the Michelin inspectors, to a place that some of the country’s most promising culinary talent now call home, it was quite the journey.
A reputation for fine dining that was once reserved for Edinburgh or further afield in........