A Glasgow City Council initiative aimed at revitalising the city centre is delivering real and visible improvements, with the City Centre Improvement Grant Fund supporting businesses, charities, and community groups to breathe new life into previously underused spaces.

Launched to improve the look and feel of the city centre, the fund offers grants of up to £20,000 to eligible organisations across two streams: Meanwhile Use and Minor Improvement. Due to overwhelming interest, the original funding pot of £200,000 per stream has been increased, and applications remain open.

The first project to benefit from the Meanwhile Use Fund will bring a Scottish charity first to Glasgow's Trongate. Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland will open its first dedicated bookshop and café at 16 Trongate this October, creating three jobs and providing volunteering opportunities, all while reactivating a vacant ground-floor unit at the Tontine Building.

Billy Farrell, Director of Income Generation at Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland, said: "This funding from Glasgow City Council will help us to open our first-ever dedicated bookshop, providing a new income stream to support people with chest, heart, stroke and Long Covid conditions live life to the full. We are delighted to work with the council to expand our reach into this part of Glasgow and play our part in the regeneration of the city centre by bringing new life to this unit on Trongate."

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Councillor Angus Millar, Convener for City Centre Recovery, welcomed the initial success of the fund: "This project is bringing real improvement to the look and feel of the city centre. It is great to see the first projects to receive support from the City Centre Improvement Grant Fund identified and improvements carried out, and I look forward to the positive changes and economic social benefits that this work will deliver for the area - and Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland's first bookstore is a great example of that. I would encourage any businesses and organisations with proposals that could be delivered through this Fund to apply."

The Minor Improvement Fund, now fully committed in its initial round, supports small-scale upgrades that improve the physical environment and deter antisocial behaviour. It focuses on shopfront repairs, greening, and community amenities — but not large-scale infrastructure.

Funded projects include:

• St George's Tron Parish Church: replacing broken signage vital for police wayfinding and public safety.

• Trongate: shopfront repairs, graffiti and vegetation removal.

• Tron Theatre: installing murals on roll shutters to deter antisocial behaviour and improve aesthetics.

• Bo Peep's, a local business, also received support for external improvements.

Other successful applicants include:

• Friends of Glasgow Royal Infirmary: Royal Bee Trail to draw visitors and deter antisocial behaviour.

• Renfield Lane: graffiti removal and street cleansing.

• Virginia Court: creation of a rain garden for public and educational use.

• Glasgow Cathedral area: refurbishment of the Cathedral well as part of the Glasgow 850 celebrations.

• Buccleuch and Dalhousie Lanes: small-scale greening and blight mitigation.

With more applications under review, the City Centre Improvement Grant Fund continues to drive regeneration efforts, support local enterprise, and create a more vibrant and welcoming city centre for Glasgow.