The Barras never went away: that was the message from venue manager Ashleigh Elliot when we spoke to her for our February issue about how the famous Glasgow market is being rejuvenated, successfully combining a new generation of vendors with the old guard that made the place so loved. 

In more good news, the food options in and around the Barras are now starting to get more exciting too. Since last February, Colin Jenkinson has run Monster Munchies, a hole-in-the-wall from which he impressively slings out swathes of Taiwanese-style bao and pancakes every weekend. ‘It’s been a whirlwind,’ he says. ‘It’s such a tiny unit that I thought “will I have enough to make this work financially?” but I was blown away within two weekends.’ It’s a tight window of opportunity, with stalls coming to life from 10am-ish onwards and winding down about 4pm. In between, it’s game on: ‘for fun, we worked it out, and we reckon we’ve served 14,000 customers since I started!’

‘Peak queue’ was the end of March when The Barras hosted its first Hong Kong market, and huge numbers headed to the East End to check it out. ‘Our queue was right up through the market and round the corner,’ says Jenkinson. ‘I know that Chris from Fishball Revolution, just outside, was the same.’ Some might have been frustrated at the wait (or even left disappointingly empty-handed and hungry), but, as Ashleigh Elliot told us, ‘things like this just really get us in front of new people.’ Job done.

The beneficiaries that weekend were the cafés and bars nearby, which all reported an unexpected surge. Chris Mears is the owner-chef at Scran, a café with a quirky and stylish take on brunch, where scampi rolls and homemade shawarma sit alongside eggs benedict and the like. It began life in Dennistoun, but last year he decided to move to London Road on the perimeter of the market.

‘When we took the unit on, it was in terrible shape, but we thought it was worth the risk to invest pretty much every last penny of the business into doing it up as I felt that it’s all about to kick off down this neck of the woods. We open at 10am Saturdays and Sundays and, by 10.01am, the café is usually full and that’s us until 3.30pm when the kitchen closes,’ he laughs. ‘But you can put your name down and go for a wander round the market.’ Monster Munchies say the same thing: folk are perfectly happy to womble as they wait.

And folk have options. Smokey Trotters, next door to Scran, is a cult favourite for all things loaded, pimped and meaty (think patty melts and chicken katsu loaded fries), while achingly cool artisan bakery and café Outlier, just down the road, is another on the weekend bucket list. The newest arrival is in the market itself, with Pizza Cult joining the ranks this month and hanging their hat on glorious options like pizza with their own Italian sausage, caramelised shallots and spicy honey. 

The big flavours, the guilty toppings, fast and furious street food and that intense focus on those weekend hours; for all that it’s evolving, the urgency and swagger of The Barras is utterly intact. And long may that continue.

The Barras Market, 244 Gallowgate, Glasgow