Glasgow Food Stories: We meet up with the team behind Corner Shop on Old Dumbarton Road

Part-owner Connor McGeady said that while the original plan was to open a bar offering seasonal and ever-changing wines at the Old Dumbarton Road premises, things soon changed as they looked at what they could possibly offer.

Working alongside head chef Alex, it was clear that food should be a strong focus behind Corner Shop.

Connor said: “The more that we kind of looked at the menu, we realised this really has to be a big driving force behind what we're doing because we're either a wine bar that does plates of cheese, charcuterie and things like that, or we invest heavily in a kitchen and a really strong team and we make it food focused so it ended up becoming a bit more food focused than what we had originally planned.

Connor has earned his stripes by working in some of Glasgow’s top establishments, including Stravaigin and the Ubiquitous Chip, since breaking into the industry aged 17.

“The big change came when I went to work at The Gannett. I was the assistant manager there, became the restaurant manager, and then took over the wines, and that's what really started my wine journey.

When the opportunity came to take on the former premises of Grain and Grind, owned by Connor’s friend Matthew Mustard, he jumped at the chance to take on the project as a partnership between the two - alongside Gary McKernan.

Connor said: “We had a couple of chats and it just turned out we were both really on the same page. And then, okay, ‘what sort of food do you like?’ He goes to the south of France a lot, I go to the south of France round about Perpignan, and I go to Barcelona a lot, so there's that Catalan influence in both parts of those countries there.

“When we got Alex on board, he spends a lot of time in Spain, where his dad is, and he's holidaying in Spain and Barcelona and Malaga. So we were just like, ‘okay, let's just do really cool tapas, Basque and Catalan food’, and that's how we came up with Corner Shop.”

The opening of Corner Shop is a homecoming of sorts for Connor, who was born nearby and was immediately immersed in the local hospitality.

“When I told my dad that the location was on Old Dumbarton Road right across from Duke's, he was like, ‘oh, that's amazing because there's such a connection to that street’. Duke's Bar has a lot of sentimental meaning. It's not only like where we hang out most nights, My dad worked there in the 80s, so famously The Clash on their busking tour turned up, and one of the places they played in Glasgow was Duke's Bar.

“My dad was working on the bar that night. I was born in Yorkhill Hospital. My dad was still working there at the time, so it was the first place that I was taken after being born.”

Corner Shop. 45 Old Dumbarton Rd, Glasgow G3 8RF