Key Points
- Ruby Hotels is reportedly in talks to open a new hotel in Glasgow under revised plans submitted to Glasgow City Council.
- The proposal concerns a 17-storey, 183-bedroom hotel on the corner of West Nile Street and Bath Street.
- The site is currently occupied by buildings previously home to O Sole Mio restaurant, Iron Horse pub and Blue Lagoon chip shop.
- Developer George Capital is seeking an “effective time extension” to keep the long-running project alive after earlier consent.
- Planning permission and conservation area consent are due to lapse in September this year.
- The application says the extension would help secure contractual discussions with Ruby Hotels.
- The scheme includes a publicly accessible restaurant on the 15th floor, plus a lounge, residents’ bar and gym.
- The development is being presented as a replacement for a vacant and disused building that is in disrepair.
- IHG acquired Ruby Hotels in February 2025 for £92 million and is seeking to expand the brand globally.
- Ruby Hotels currently operates 20 hotels in major European cities and has 10 pipeline hotels.
Glasgow (Glasgow Express) May 21, 2026 – Ruby Hotels is in talks to open a new hotel in the city as George Capital seeks to extend planning permission for a proposed 17-storey development on West Nile Street and Bath Street, with the application dated this year and the existing consent due to expire in September. The report says the scheme could create a 183-bedroom hotel on a site previously occupied by the O Sole Mio restaurant, the Iron Horse pub and Blue Lagoon chip shop, while the developer is also looking to secure time to advance discussions with the IHG-owned brand.
What is being proposed?
As reported by the unnamed journalist in the source material, the renewed application from George Capital asks Glasgow City Council for an “effective time extension” so the hotel project can move forward in due course.
The proposal would replace the existing two-storey building on the site, which the application describes as vacant and in a state of disrepair.
The plan also includes a publicly accessible restaurant on the 15th floor, alongside a lounge, residents’ bar and gym.
The development is being framed as a better fit for the location’s historic surroundings. The application states that the project would replace a redundant building with a new one that “better respects the site’s historic surroundings”, according to the material submitted to the council.
Why is the timing important?
The planning permission and conservation area consent for the hotel scheme are set to lapse in September this year unless the extension is granted.
The application says the timing matters because the original consent, secured in June 2020, and its renewal in September 2023 coincided with a weaker Glasgow hotel market.
The submission adds that hotel market activity suffered during and after the pandemic, but that interest has improved more recently.
On that basis, the developer says a high-quality hotel development still appears viable within the site’s parameters.
What does Ruby Hotels want?
Ruby Hotels is being positioned as the likely operator if the project proceeds, with the application saying the extension would provide certainty for contractual discussions.
The brand is described as part of IHG’s portfolio, and the application suggests the hotel could fit the company’s broader growth ambitions.
IHG acquired Ruby Hotels in February 2025 for £92 million and said it intended to accelerate the brand’s global expansion. The brand currently has 20 hotels open across major European cities and 10 more in its pipeline.
How big is the brand’s expansion plan?
IHG has said Ruby Hotels is targeting more than 120 hotels over the next 10 years and more than 250 over 20 years.
The company also said it planned to integrate the open Ruby hotels into its system by the end of March 2026, while the pipeline properties are being folded in over time.
The brand’s “lean luxury” positioning is central to that strategy, with a focus on city-centre locations and design-led, efficient hotel operations.
The Glasgow proposal appears to align with that approach because the site is in a central urban area with an existing planning history.
What happens next?
The decision now rests with Glasgow City Council, which will consider whether to grant the extension and allow the project to remain live. If approved, the scheme could move a step closer to becoming a new Ruby hotel in the city centre.
The application does not indicate that construction has started, and the project has already seen a lengthy gap since the original permission in 2020.
The current filing is aimed at keeping the scheme viable long enough for the operator discussions to continue.
Background of development
Ruby Hotels is a Munich-based lifestyle hotel brand founded in 2013, with a model it calls “lean luxury”. The brand has grown across Europe and now sits within IHG after the group’s 2025 acquisition, which was intended to strengthen IHG’s position in the urban lifestyle segment.
The Glasgow site has been subject to planning interest for several years, and the latest application is an effort to preserve earlier approvals rather than start a wholly new process.
The project reflects both the city’s hotel-market recovery and IHG’s wider push to expand Ruby in key urban destinations.
Prediction
For Glasgow’s hospitality sector, this development could add another centrally located hotel option if the plans are approved and a deal with Ruby Hotels is completed. For local businesses and visitors, a new 183-bedroom hotel may increase footfall in the West Nile Street and Bath Street area, while the 15th-floor restaurant could also create a new dining destination.
For the city’s planning authorities, the immediate issue is whether the site should remain reserved for hotel use after years of delay. For Ruby Hotels and IHG, the project would represent a practical test of the brand’s expansion strategy in a major UK city, but any impact depends on consent being extended and the contractual discussions progressing.
