Craig, Martin, Scott, Tom

Participants in Cafe Research Task:
Craig Ralph
Martin Aitken
Tom Cullens
Scott Bremner

We visited both the Gandolfi and the Tron theatre café/bar. We also wrote our personal views in our blogs.

Gandolfi

The Gandolfi can be found on Albion Street near Merchant Square. We felt their revolving door entrance was very old fashion and unusual in a café, but when we went left through another door into the café we realised it was fitting to the dark wooden interior. The café was originally owned by John Clarke and we discovered the furniture was designed by his friend from Glasgow School of Art, Tim Stead, and was made from old oak which was gathered from a forest in the borders to which he lived. John Clarke was extremely interested in photography which was illustrated by the many photos on the wall which he took. His café was named after the Gandolfi family who hand crafted cameras.

We got served by a woman called Ann-Marie who told us some interesting information about the café. Whilst we sat drinking cold and warm drinks there was music played in the background from Classic Fm which gave it a relaxing and calm environment.

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  Camera and Louis Gandolfi
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  Plaque
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  Bench
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  Bar
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  Well Fed, Well Blessed
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  Photos

Tron Theatre Cafe

The second café we visited was the café/bar for the Tron theatre. It was much more relaxed and more contemporary and had a modern feel to it. The front of the café was glass windows which let in a lot of light and made it feel more welcoming this made us feel more connected with the outside. It was smaller and busier than the Gandolfi. The staff didn’t seem as helpful as they had in the Gandolfi and this was reflected through the whole group and we only spent half as long here as we had in the gandolfi. There was no drinks menu which didn’t help to select which drinks we wanted. The atmosphere in the group had changed. We were not comfortable and all wanted to leave.

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  Tron Entrance