Our top 5 Glasgow venues for events

Depending on your age you may remember this venue as the Arches, the place for club nights that weren’t at Subby. Taking up residence in the iconic location under Central station and the Hielanman’s Umbrella, Platform, as it is known today, is a top Glasgow events venue run by a leading events management company.

The six interconnected brick arches of the viaduct still welcome thousands of visitors for events, gigs, celebrations, product launches, conferences, and more. With 35,000 square feet previously tread on by ravers in the ‘90s and 2000s, the place has been reborn as a versatile venue welcoming the top of the top in Scottish events.

With an impressive capacity of 1,750, top lighting and sound systems, and options for personalisation, decor, and catering, all your event needs will be handled. So whether it’s a music event, awards ceremony, brand activation, conference, or private dining celebration, Platform hosts it all and does it with aplomb.

The Barras Market has been part of the Glaswegian landscape for a century. While there have been highs and lows, and all things must change, the Barrowland Ballroom remains an iconic music venue, and the area of the Barras has been evolving into a celebrated events venue through Barras Art & Design (BAaD).

Through brick and mortar and a yard comprised of upcycled shipping containers, BAaD is a collection of spaces to enjoy exhibitions, to meet and enjoy seasonal scran, craft beers, cocktails, and the wares of small businesses. It’s also become a popular space to catch live sport.

With an exclusive hire capacity of 500 and 350 in the outdoor BackYard, BAaD’s modern spaces – The Courtyard, The BackYard, and the Mezzanine – have hosted parties, weddings, gigs, exhibitions, fashion shows, conferences, and anything else you can think of. Cool and contemporary, yet surrounded by much-beloved history, BAaD is bringing in a new kind of foot traffic into the Barras with its offerings and events.

It feels like it took ages for the riverfront property around the old Custom House between St Enoch the Clyde to be developed, but occupying one address at this prime real estate is the Clayton Hotel Glasgow. With the hotel has come a new kid on the block in Glasgow events: the Custom House Ballroom.

The 4-star hotel not only boasts brand-new everything but its elegant and contemporary ballroom is becoming a popular pick for events. With a standing capacity of 200 guests and 200 in a theatre layout, 120 in a classroom layout, 140 in a cabaret style, and 120 at round tables, the ballroom is ideal for weddings, private dining, meetings & conferences, and more.

With a dedicated Events team to plan, organise, and tailor events, the Clayton Hotel’s Custom House Ballroom may have only been around a short while but it’s one of our top picks for a Glasgow venue.

The Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) has a long history on Sauchiehall Street, dating back to the mid-1970s and a former incarnation known as Third Eye Centre. Since the early 1990s, the CCA has been a renowned landmark on the map of Glasgow’s art & culture soul.

From exhibitions, film festivals, and screenings, to its bar & café haunted by Art School students and locals alike, the multi-storey CCA is one of our top picks for events when a screening room or theatre is required or you’re after something a bit more edgy and unique for a meeting, conference, reception, product launch or other corporate or creative industry events.

Occupying the Kelvinside Parish Church that dates back to 1862, everybody in Glasgow knows Òran Mór, you’ve either been there for a gig, the theatre, to attend A Play, a Pie & a Pint, and everybody has a cousin who had a wedding reception there. Known, loved, and a powerhouse events venue in the West End and Glasgow as a whole.

The statuesque Victorian architecture makes for a handsome events venue, and the Auditorium’s famous ceiling mural by Alasdair Gray has presided over ceremonies and events for a long time. The mural, surrounded by stunning pagan stained glass and crisscrossed by wooden beams, has seen the likes of weddings and ceilidhs, workshops, and formal banquets with a capacity of over 200 guests.

The beautifully appointed Dan Mor Room with its views over the Botanic Gardens has hosted private dinners and meetings for up to 32 guests and canapé receptions for up to 45. From corporate to private events, from its cultural and historic past to its present, Òran Mór continues to be a Glasgow institution.