Barras Art & Design Centre

I love the Barras Art and Design Centre (often abbreviated to Ba-​Ad).
As a venue, it puts me in mind of a smaller version of The Briggait. It’s basically a glass roofed courtyard — made up of shops, but on fair days, it’s also lined with stalls.
You’ll find a lot of custom made jewellery, home furnishings, and reclaimed/​reupholstered furniture. Also common are the vintage stalls, and general bric-​à-​brac. There’s a good sized café which does some pretty good coffee. This time, we came away with a cool wee picture for home.
The stallholders were all super friendly and chatty, but not remotely pushy.
Next time you see a fair on here, make sure you get along.

I’ve been here quite a few times now for different events and overall, I think it’s a great space. It’s a little hard to describe — it’s probably most like a courtyard with a covered roof and it’s pretty gorgeous to look at!
I’ve visited for a street festival-​type event (with mostly food vendors), and also been here when the space is empty for a practice skating session. The floor isn’t really ideal for roller skating as it’s a little uneven but it’s not promoted as a skating venue so that’s not their fault! For the food festival, it was a great space although because it’s glass-​covered it got really, really warm — like a glasshouse.
The area around BAaD is accessible by car Monday — Friday (no car access on the weekend due to the Barras Market) so keep that in mind if you’re a vendor who’s setting up for an event. If you’re visiting an event as a guest, it’s a little bit of a walk from the nearest train station (either High Street Station or Argyle Street Station).