Glasgow push for lesbian lovers

A ROMANTIC break in Glasgow has not, traditionally, been the way to a lady's heart. But this could change, especially if the person planning the weekend is another lady.

Thanks to Lip Service, BBC Three's lesbian drama series, set in the groovy bars and flats of the Merchant City, the city once famous for shipyards and gang violence, could become a magnet for lesbian visitors.

A specialist travel company is planning a Lip Service break in Glasgow. Lovescotland, based in Edinburgh, organises gay-friendly tours and civil partnerships in Scotland and is now offering a "Lip Service Valentine's Special".

Based around the Merchant City, which it describes as "the city's gay quarter", the two-night package in February will include dinner at the Hummingbird on Bath Street, where the characters Cat and Sam have their first date, VIP passes to "Scotland's hottest gay club" - the Polo Lounge, which does not feature in the series - and a guide to the other cafs, bars and venues used as locations.

Ruth Cochrane, who runs Lovescotland, enjoys Lip Service, which finishes on Tuesday, and sees it as a great opportunity to market the city to a new audience. "It shows the city off. So often on television it's seen as dingy and dark but this shows off the architecture and makes it look like a cosmopolitan place to be."

• 'It's realistic, but they're better looking and have more sex'

There is a precedent for this. The American lesbian series The L-Word, to which Lip Service is inevitably compared, is set in West Hollywood and its fans regularly make location-spotting pilgrimages to the area. Jill Jackson, 31, the former Speedway singer whose music is featured in Lip Service, says: "I think it could make people from all over the world want to come to Glasgow. After I saw The L-Word I had to go to West Hollywood to see if I bumped into Shane (the bad girl star of the series]."

Cochrane is convinced the trips will be a hit with lesbian couples, aged over 25, who love the series and want to sit in the Trans-Europe Caf, where Frankie meets Sadie, and see the office where Cat works (actually the Lighthouse in Mitchell Lane) for themselves.

She is not worried that visitors who expect to arrive in Glasgow, hit Rubies (which does not exist but was filmed in a non-gay bar, the Bunker) and do not find themselves immediately surrounded by lesbians as gorgeous as Lip Service stars Ruta Gedmintas and Laura Fraser, might be disappointed. "Glasgow has great nightlife," she says. "I think there are girls that look like that around."

In fact, the Lip Service effect is starting already. The Trans- Europe Caf has noted an increase in lesbian customers.

A finale party for the show, being held in Glasgow on Tuesday, has had 3,000 applications for tickets, 70 per cent of them from outside the city.Bex Evans, a 24-year-old care worker from Leicester, is spending this weekend exploring the Merchant City with her partner, Vicky Coupland. "We both really enjoyed the show," says Evans. "We will be going out to see lots of the locations."

Glasgow City Marketing Bureau has no specific plans to promote the city to fans but chief executive Scott Taylor says: "Any publicity that helps raise awareness of Glasgow and also reinforces its style credentials to a UK or international audience is to be welcomed and Lip Service certainly conveys the message that Glasgow is hip, cool and cutting edge."