Editing Glasgow (section)

===Merchant City===
[[File:Glasgow Tolbooth Steeple, Glasgow.jpg|thumb|right|The Tolbooth Steeple dominates [[Glasgow Cross]] and marks the east side of the [[Merchant City]].]]

The Merchant City  is the commercial and part-residential district of the [[Merchant City]], a name coined by the historian Charles Oakley in the 1960s. This had started as a residential district of the wealthy city merchants involved in international trade and the textile industries in the 18th and early 19th centuries, with their warehouses nearby, including the [[Tobacco Lords]] from whom many of the streets take their name. With its mercantile wealth, and continuing growth even before the [[Industrial Revolution]], the city expanded by creating the New Town around [[George Square]], soon followed by the New Town of Blythswood on [[Blythswood Hill]] which includes [[Blythswood Square]].<ref>'''Glasgow's Blythswood''', by Graeme Smith, 2021 www.blythswoodsmith.co.uk</ref> The original medieval centre around Glasgow Cross and the High Street was left behind.

Glasgow Cross, situated at the junction of [[High Street (Glasgow)|High Street]], leading up to [[Glasgow Cathedral]], Gallowgate, [[Trongate]] and Saltmarket was the original centre of the city, symbolised by its [[Mercat cross]]. Glasgow Cross encompasses the Tolbooth Steeple, all that remains of the original [[Glasgow Tolbooth]], which was demolished in 1921. Moving northward up High Street towards [[Rottenrow]] and [[Townhead]] lies the 15th century [[Glasgow Cathedral]] and the [[Provand's Lordship]]. Due to growing industrial pollution levels in the mid-to-late 19th century, the area fell out of favour with residents.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.glasgowmerchantcity.net/history1.htm |title=Glasgow's Merchant City: Historical Development |publisher=Merchant City Initiative |year=2008 |access-date=29 July 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513203125/http://www.glasgowmerchantcity.net/history1.htm |archive-date=13 May 2008}}</ref>

From the 1980s onwards, the Merchant City has been rejuvenated with [[Scandinavian Scotland|luxury city centre]] flats and [[warehouse conversion]]s. This regeneration has supported an increasing number of cafés and restaurants.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.merchantcityglasgow.com/categories/4 |title=Merchant City Glasgow: Restaurants and Cafés |publisher=Merchant City Glasgow&nbsp;– Merchant City Initiative |year=2008 |access-date=30 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080616150025/http://www.merchantcityglasgow.com/categories/4 |archive-date=16 June 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The area is also home to a number of high end boutique style shops and some of Glasgow's most upmarket stores.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.merchantcityglasgow.com/categories/7 |title=Merchant City Glasgow: Shops |publisher=Merchant City Glasgow&nbsp;– Merchant City Initiative |year=2008 |access-date=30 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080616150040/http://www.merchantcityglasgow.com/categories/7 |archive-date=16 June 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Merchant City is one centre of Glasgow's growing "cultural quarter", based on King Street, the Saltmarket and [[Trongate]], and at the heart of the annual [[Merchant City Festival]]. The area has supported a growth in art galleries, the origins of which can be found in the late 1980s when it attracted artist-led organisations that could afford the cheap rents required to operate in vacant manufacturing or retail spaces.<ref name=autogenerated4>{{cite web |url=http://www.merchantcityglasgow.com/categories/2 |title=Merchant City Glasgow: Galleries and Art |publisher=Merchant City Glasgow&nbsp;– Merchant City Initiative |year=2008 |access-date=30 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080616150015/http://www.merchantcityglasgow.com/categories/2 |archive-date=16 June 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The artistic and cultural potential of the Merchant City as a "cultural quarter" was harnessed by independent arts organisations and [[Glasgow City Council]],<ref name=autogenerated4/> and the recent development of Trongate 103, which houses galleries, workshops, artist studios and production spaces, is considered a major outcome of the continued partnership between both.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.trongate103.com/ |title=Trongate 103 |year=2008 |access-date=30 July 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081101113439/http://www.trongate103.com/ |archive-date=1 November 2008}}</ref> The area also contains a number of theatres and concert venues, including the [[Tron Theatre]], the Old Fruitmarket, the Trades Hall, St. Andrew's in the Square, Merchant Square, and the [[Glasgow City Hall|City Halls]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.merchantcityglasgow.com/categories/1 |title=Merchant City Glasgow: Venues and Theatres |publisher=Merchant City Glasgow&nbsp;– Merchant City Initiative |year=2008 |access-date=30 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080616150010/http://www.merchantcityglasgow.com/categories/1 |archive-date=16 June 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>