Robbie Armstrong

Glasgow

Writer and Broadcast Journalist at Freelance

Audio Producer at BBC Radio 4

Reporter at The Bell (Glasgow)

🗞️ words and photies and such @theglasgowbell 📰 📻 radio, podcasts, broadcasts @bbcradio4🎙️

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Articles

All aboard the Paisley party train

3 weeks ago | glasgowbell.co.uk | Robbie Armstrong

Booze, bottlings and Bucky | | “Look, someone’s smashed a bottle of tonic,” I say to Mark, my photographer. “That’s not Buckie,” he replies, “it’s blood”. I look closer at the thick droplets splattered on the otherwise pristine marble floor, mixed in with bits of broken glass. He’s right, the splashes are a muddy red, more crimson than the dark purple hue of wreck-the-hoose juice. We raise our gaze, belatedly noticing the blue curtains, paramedics and police.
The great Garnethill graffiti war

1 month ago | glasgowbell.co.uk | Robbie Armstrong

Taggers say they're reclaiming walls. Locals say they're destroying a 47 year-old mural | | On a balmy morning last month, I hop on my bike and set off towards the city centre. Almost immediately, I’m tailed by two police officers on off-road motorbikes who eventually stop me for questioning. After checking if my hoodie is a baseball jacket (it’s not), and asking what my bike lock is (it’s a bike lock), they let me off with a slap on the wrists for cycling in a one-way zone.
Is it time to move on from Mackintosh?

1 month ago | glasgowbell.co.uk | Robbie Armstrong

Dear readers — we’ve got Mackintosh on the mind at the moment. We’re not sure if it was the pews stooshie, the recent sale of his silverware and a watercolour at auction, or the talks of the Lighthouse reopening as a climate tech hub (editor's note: or the fact Mackintosh is omnipresent in Glasgow). Either way, we’ve been debating the approach to his architectural legacy in the office, and safe to say we don’t see entirely eye to eye.
Pews it or lose it: the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society is at war

2 months ago | glasgowbell.co.uk | Robbie Armstrong

At the start of April, Michael Dale, the chair of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society, returned from a three week holiday in Japan to “all hell breaking loose”. The Sunday Times had published an article claiming that a pair of historic Mackintosh-designed church pews had been “sawn up and sold for £40”. And who was accused of hawking such precious artefacts as scrap? Dale, along with fellow Society director Stuart Robinson.
A day doon the Clyde, meditations on social media and sandwich philosophy

2 months ago | glasgowbell.co.uk | Robbie Armstrong

A different sort of weekend read in your inbox today, folks. We've got some news to share tomorrow, which we’re a wee bitty excited to tell you all about. It's been one of those weeks here at Bell HQ, so in the meantime we thought we'd give you something a bit lighter for your perusal, before things heat up again soon — we promise. Last week, what with Spring truly blooming, I hopped on a late morning train out of Glasgow.
The ‘lift and shift’ method that gives Scottish TV jobs to London production companies

2 months ago | glasgowbell.co.uk | Robbie Armstrong |Eve Livingston

Hello readers, we hope you’ve been enjoying the sunshine. Here’s hoping this isn’t Glasgow’s premature summer… (Editor’s note: it definitely is). In this week’s briefing, we’ve got the lowdown on the axing of Glasgow’s favourite soap opera, a recommendation for fair weather taproom pints and a review of an Alasdair Gray-inspired comedy night. Now, onto your briefing.
Conspiracies, closed doors and conflict: where’s Castlemilk’s supermarket?

2 months ago | glasgowbell.co.uk | Robbie Armstrong

Maureen Cope is a short woman with a big laugh, bright eyes and unfinished business. She supposedly retired last year, after 35 years at Ardenglen, one of the big four housing associations in the post-war peripheral housing estate of Castlemilk. But the 78 year-old has a final bone to pick in the area where she’s spent most of her life and career as a community activist and organiser. Closed mouths, you see, don’t get fed. And Castlemilk, home to over 14,000 people, needs feeding.
How Glasgow made jazz cool again

Mar 8, 2025 | glasgowbell.co.uk | Robbie Armstrong

It’s just before 10pm and the Barrowlands is packed, stage lights turning the ceiling’s stars blue and red. Rising synth chords ring out, growing louder before halting abruptly. The room falls silent. Then, a splash of symbols crashes before the brass section blasts. Thunderous bass and drums call the crowd to attention. Another brief pause and the audience’s roars fill the space, before the sequence repeats.
Magnet fishing is supposed to be a wholesome hobby. Why all the beef?

Mar 1, 2025 | glasgowbell.co.uk | Robbie Armstrong

It’s a Sunday morning in Stirling, and the rain gods are unleashing their wrath on those foolish enough to brave the elements. Approaching the winding River Forth, an underpass provides a brief respite to check the map, then it’s straight ahead to the Old Bridge, standing stolidly since the 1400s. Halfway across the bridge, just about visible in the biblical downpour, there’s something submerged in the water.
Will Glasgow gobble up what Michelin has to offer?

Feb 10, 2025 | glasgowbell.co.uk | Robbie Armstrong

Dear readers — welcome to your Monday briefing. Within a few scrolls, you’ll soon discover it looks a little different. Ok, a lot different. We’ve done a full revamp. To take you backstage for a moment: The Bell has been in action for just about five months now and we’ve been absolutely blown away by the response — we’re less than 50 paying members away from reaching our late March goal of 500.