The neighbourhood wine bar and restaurant you'd love to have at the end of your street opens this week

Corner Shop is almost ready to go. The new wine shop with a food menu that takes inspiration from Spain and France, sits on Old Dumbarton Road, opposite Dukes Bar and close to other food and drink independents including Gloriosa, Tantrum Doughnuts and Grunting Growler, the craft beer shop. The new arrival will fit in with its neighbours, providing more reasons to venture beyond the familiar Finnieston strip on nearby Argyle Street.

I met Conor McGeady when he was at The Gannet, before he joined Brett, then Fallachan Kitchen while also establishing his own food and drink pop-up events and festivals. He is the driving force behind the new project, alongside his business partner, Matthew Mustard of Grain and Grind, Glasgow’s expanding network of coffee shops. The pair have been realising their dream wine bar piece by piece over the past few months - laying tiles, assembling tables, sawing oak panels.

It turns out that Conor has known Old Dumbarton Road his entire life. “The location is great. It's still West End but it’s a wee bit off the beaten track, which I quite like. It's next to Dukes Bar, which is just a great pub. I used to go there a lot when I lived near here. My dad also worked in it at the time I was born in the late eighties. He was there when The Clash famously played.

“It's the first place I was taken to after being born at Yorkhill Hospital, to say hi to some of my dad’s pals. I think it’s actually where my parents met. When I told my dad we were taking on this corner he was really chuffed. Then my best friend has his beer shop next door so I have got a real connection to this street. Totally unintentional but just a nice memory and hopefully we can come in and create some memories for the next generation of drinkers.”

Conor will lead the front of house team and he has tapped Alex Brady, known locally for his excellent pizza and Beirm pop-ups, to head up the kitchen: “We wanted to open a wine bar but we wanted to lean heavily into the food and have both play off each other. Matthew, my business partner, spends a lot of time in France where his wife is from, and I spend a lot of time there with my partner and her family. I also love going to Barcelona and Catalonia. So instantly we both thought that's the vibe for the food. which just goes so well with wine. So Basque region, Catalan, south of France, north of Spain dishes in particular that I'm excited about.”

“We will have top quality Iberica ham, old school things like serrano and melon. We’ve got a little twist on a bikini, which is essentially a little toastie. It's a pintxo from the Basque region, and we are going to do that with a salt cod filling. We're going to have a Basque cheesecake for dessert. We'll do a really simple Spanish cheese plate as well. We'll have some nice market fish through our friend Dale, who owns West End Fish. The fish will change, but I know for the opening, we're going to have it cooked over fire with a sort of chicken and clam butter sauce. Just super simple, but delicious, relying on top quality produce. We want the menu to be bar snack value but big enough to suit if you want to come in for dinner.”

Spain and France will feature prominently in the wine selection: “We wanted the wine list to be old and new world but the more we’ve tasted, the more we are leaning into Catalan and Basque for Spanish wine, Languedoc-Roussillon for French wine. It’s totally suited to the food menu.

“Something I’m really excited about is our extensive sherry list by the glass, I think we will have the best selection in Glasgow. We will be having a sherry summer in Yorkhill. I have my glasses ready behind the bar.

You can check for Corner Shop’s opening announcement here. Your new favourite neighbourhood wine bar will be at 45 Old Dumbarton Road, G3 8RF.