Crowne Plaza Glasgow is a high-rise hotel in the

Finnieston Finnieston is an area of Glasgow, Scotland, situated on the north bank of the River Clyde roughly between the city's West End and the city centre. Finnieston is home to the SECC and SSE Hydro, where many musical concerts, sporting events an ...

area of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

, Scotland. Originally opened in 1989, it is a 4-star property on the banks of the

River Clyde The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...

adjacent to the SEC Centre, the

SEC Armadillo The SEC Armadillo (originally known as the Clyde Auditorium) is an auditorium located near the River Clyde, in Glasgow, Scotland. It is one of three venues on the Scottish Event Campus, which includes the SEC Centre and the OVO Hydro.

and the OVO Hydro. The building (along with the adjacent SEC Campus buildings), is frequently used as one of the most recognisable images of the modern Clydeside.

Background

The need for a new hotel next to the SEC had been recognised since the scheme's inception - the initial plans for the building were first unveiled in 1984. The Glasgow Hoteliers' Association blocked the plans initially claiming that the city did not need any more hotel capacity, but later relented when an agreement was struck with the

Scottish Development Agency Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

(SDA) that it would only contribute taxpayer funding to new hotels of up to 200 bedrooms. However, further controversy erupted two years later when it was revealed that the SDA's grant to the project totalled £3.4m, whilst at the same time the plans had now grown in size that the proposed hotel now had 300 bedrooms - effectively breaching the earlier agreement that the Glasgow Hoteliers' Association had reached with the SDA. Nonetheless, the then

Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland ( gd, Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba; sco, Secretar o State fir Scotland), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the Unit ...

Malcolm Rifkind Sir Malcolm Leslie Rifkind (born 21 June 1946) is a British politician who served in the cabinets of Margaret Thatcher and John Major from 1986 to 1997, and most recently as chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament fro ...

approved the development, and groundbreaking began in 1987. Construction of the building's superstructure began in 1988, its construction featuring prominently across the Clyde from the

Glasgow Garden Festival The Glasgow Garden Festival was the third of the five national garden festivals, and the only one to take place in Scotland. It was held in Glasgow between 26 April and 26 September 1988. It was the first event of its type to be held in the cit ...

of that year. It opened the following year as the Forum Hotel, and later came under the ownership of Queens Moat Houses where it was renamed the Glasgow Moat House International, which was later shortened to Glasgow Moat House. In 2005, Queens Moat Houses entered into a franchise agreement with

InterContinental Hotels Intercontinental is an adjective to describe something which relates to more than one continent. Intercontinental may also refer to: * Intercontinental ballistic missile, a long-range guided ballistic missile * InterContinental Hotels Group (I ...

Group to operate the hotel as a

Crowne Plaza Crowne Plaza is a British multinational chain of full service, upscale hotels headquartered in the United Kingdom. It caters to business travelers and the meetings and conventions market. It forms part of the InterContinental Hotels Group family ...

hotel.

In popular culture

The building frequently appears on

current affairs Current affairs may refer to: News * ''Current Affairs'' (magazine) a bimonthly magazine of culture and politics. * Current affairs (news format): a genre of broadcast journalism * Current Affairs, former name for Behind the News Politics * An ...

TV programmes broadcast from the STV and

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Irela ...

studios on the opposite bank of the river. The building is notable for having no designated thirteenth floor, meaning that despite the top floor being designated "16", it is really a fifteen-story building (an example of

Triskaidekaphobia Triskaidekaphobia ( , ; ) is fear or avoidance of the number . It is also a reason for the fear of Friday the 13th, called ''paraskevidekatriaphobia'' () or ''friggatriskaidekaphobia'' (). The term was used as early as in 1910 by Isador Cori ...

). One of the three lifts serving the main tower of the hotel is glass-sided, giving views upstream of the Clyde and the Kingston Bridge. It has the second-largest function room in the city, just behind that of the Glasgow Hilton. The hotel's ballroom was frequently used as the location of the Glasgow auditions of '' The X-Factor'' (most notably 2007 winner

Leon Jackson Leon Jackson (born 30 December 1988) is a Scottish singer. He won the fourth series of British talent show ''The X Factor'' in 2007. Following his win, Jackson was the main star of his on-web series entitled ''Leon's Life'', which ran from 20 ...

's initial audition was filmed there) before they moved to

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

in 2008, and then to the neighbouring SEC Armadillo when the show changed to a live audition format.

References

{{reflist 1989 establishments in Scotland Crowne Plaza hotels Hotel buildings completed in 1989 Hotels established in 1989 Hotels in Glasgow Skyscraper hotels in the United Kingdom Skyscrapers in Glasgow