THE 20th instalment of the Commonwealth Games has given Glasgow's self-esteem a much-needed shot in the arm.

We seem to be temporarily removed of our sometimes-stifling cynicism, experiencing a collective buzz that I can't remember ever experiencing before.

There can be no denying that the city has been cast in a new light.

Some of those who visited Glasgow over the course of the games would have been expecting a bleak, grey, city.

Instead, they found us at our best: welcoming, vibrant, roasting...all the adjectives that have been so prevalent since Sunday's closing ceremony.

I got chatting to a German, Sebastian, in Lebowski's on Friday night.

He was from Dusseldorf: an international arts capital with a staggeringly beautiful old town.

He said he loves it here and can't wait to return. "It's more exciting than back home," he said.

"There are better bars, better clubs here. There's something new happening everywhere you look. In Dusseldorf there would be none of this," he said as he gestured towards the DJ, who was carefully mixing early hip-hop with some prototype house - on vinyl only, of course.

I also spent some time in Bunker over the weekend, where these photos were taken.

Any tourist visiting Glasgow would gain a good impression from this Bath Street basement: it's clean, slick, inoffensive.

But it is not indicative of our nightlife's bigger picture, which is complex, multifaceted and amazing to the outsider: a bit like the city itself.