Based on Irvine Welsh’s novel, Trainspotting, the film was an international success, making stars of its young Scottish cast including Ewan McGregor. Almost all the sets for the movie were built on an improvised soundstage at an old factory in Dennistoun but you can spot the city in many of the film’s most important scenes. placeholder image
Based on Irvine Welsh’s novel, Trainspotting, the film was an international success, making stars of its young Scottish cast including Ewan McGregor. Almost all the sets for the movie were built on an improvised soundstage at an old factory in Dennistoun but you can spot the city in many of the film’s most important scenes.

Glasgow in the Nineties: Why Trainspotting was the best film to come out of Glasgow in the 1990s in 11 photos

Paul Trainer
By Paul Trainer

Editor of GlasgowWorld

Published 21st Aug 2023, 15:17 GMT
Updated 24th Oct 2025, 10:58 GMT

A defining movie of the 1990s, Trainspotting was set in Edinburgh but almost entirely filmed in Glasgow, like Danny Boyle’s previous film, Shallow Grave.

The memorable run along Princes Street set the local context, but the majority of the scenes in the movie were played out here, shot in just seven weeks in the summer of 1995. Locations included Maryhill, Hopehill Road, Buchanan Street and Firhill.

Danny Boyle, Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, Ewen Bremner, Kevin McKidd, Kelly Macdonald and Robert Carlyle all turned out to launch the movie in Glasgow with a premiere screening at the Odeon cinema on Renfield Street.

Here are 11 pictures to show why Trainspotting is the best Glasgow movie of the 1990s.

The school attended by Diane was Jordanhill in the West End, which appears in one scene.

9. Jordanhill

The school attended by Diane was Jordanhill in the West End, which appears in one scene. | Trainspotting

The pub where Francis Begbie throws a pint glass as his friends watch on from the balcony was the Crosslands bar in Maryhill, now The Brewhaus on Queen Margaret Drive.

10. Pub

The pub where Francis Begbie throws a pint glass as his friends watch on from the balcony was the Crosslands bar in Maryhill, now The Brewhaus on Queen Margaret Drive. | Trainspotting

The cafe Spud and Renton share a milkshake is Cafe D’Jaconelli

11. Maryhill

The cafe Spud and Renton share a milkshake is Cafe D’Jaconelli | Trainspotting

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