New book coming on legendary Glasgow club The Arches
Out November 2021 through indie publisher Salamander Street, Brickwork: A Biography Of The Arches is a collaboration between two former employees of the Argyle Street venue: Kirstin Innes and David Bratchpiece. The book, which is built on interviews with key players stretching back 24 years, is part oral history, part retrospective and part memoir.
“I worked at The Arches in my early 20s as the press and publicity manager,” says Innes, who is now a published author and journalist. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that the venue made me who I am, and collecting these stories together is my way of saying thank you.”
Bratchpiece, a comedian, adds: “I was a regular customer of The Arches from its early days, during which time I quickly fell in love with the venue. Later I would go on to start working in the cloakroom there, and little did I know that 15 years later I would still be there, as a manager. I always felt its impact on Scottish culture deserved to be documented, and I’m honoured to be playing a part in that.”
The book will come out six years after The Arches shut its doors due to licensing issues. Read more about the closure in Ray Philp’s deep dive from 2015.
