Two good things about Scottish pubs

[Sgeir]

I agree with the comments of Superstrath and others in the Clyde pubs thread. They're mainly pretty dismal affairs, but there are now two good things about Scottish pubs;
<ul type="square"> there's a total ban on smoking
you can now inspect the nature of the pub before you enter [/list] So, if you like pubs with plenty of atmosphere and local character just drive or walk about until you find what you want.

For example, if you like pubs where male decoration, earings, tatoos and grey ponytails are your bag, just seek out one with the auld jakies staunin' aroon' sookin' rollies, generally from about lunch time onwards. It's easy!

Have fun!

 

[Judders]

I always enjoyed the pubs in Scotland. Very friendly.

 

[cliff]

Not anymore they ain't
--------------------

"Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity"
sailroom <span style="color:red">The place to auction your previously loved boatie bits</span>

 

[Judders]

Well its probably five years since I was there.

 

[MarkG]

Can you still get that great 80 or 90 shilling?, or has it gone up now?

 

[Kilter]

I liked that one you introduced me to! I shall go to the pub more when England catches up and gets rid of the fags!

 

[Aja]

that'll be this one ?

Donald

 

[Kilter]

That'll be the one, thanks Donald!

 

[comtech]

Only two !
Munlochy Hotel, Black Isle
80 shilling
Red Kite ( local brew, organic bitter ,best i've tasted,and i've
tasted a few including C.S.B.)
usual bewildering array of single malts
Scottish measures !
jukebox........
contensious i know but only in the Bar and fantastically eclectic,
but still fantastic, Radar Love to Delibe
Relaxed licensing hours !
men in skirts !
Munlochy Bay

This is not an advert by the way I have nothing to do with the Pub ,but relocated from England Two years ago and think
i've stumbled on Brigadoon

 

[Aja]

Next time you visit this place should be on the list....

Donald

 

[starboard]

Your 80 shilling costs about £3 now and worse than that it's piss to drink......cant beat Wotherspoons in Scotland.....first non smoking no music pub in Scotland £1.60 per pint and some really great real ale's.........and if your ever in Glasgow dont go past the "Counting House" an old bank with still the character of the old building looking out over "George Square" a really great place to get pished!!!!!!

Paul.

 

[Bejasus]

that'll be the Old Horshoe Bar on Drury St. Used to prefer the Scotia on Stockwell St. myself. Mind, at one time it used to be a bit folkie and Arran knit jumpers etc. Even better, memories of Burns Howf back in the early 70's.

 

[Bejasus]

and that one is probably the best real ale pub in the city. The Bon Accord on North St. just up from the Mitchell Library near Charing Cross.

Fortunately I drink here these days.

Geldeston Locks Inn - Probably the best complete selection of ales from a single brewery anywhere.

A sample selection

 

[machurley22]

[ QUOTE ]
Even better, memories of Burns Howf back in the early 70's.

[/ QUOTE ]
My God! Burns Howf; 1970; 3 fresh-faced first-years getting rat-@rsed in the afternoon...

Even earlier; fifth-years dogging off; a couple of pints in The Whistle in Blythswood St (the barman wasn't daft but it was considered acceptable to fold your jaiket inside out and drape it over your arm!) before rounding off the afternoon with a few frames in the Premier on Sauchiehall St.

What happened? Where am I? Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.

 

[Bejasus]

Burns howf - Dream Police, Maggie Bell, Maggie Reilly, The Poets, Northwind, Beggars Opera, loads of brilliant bands. Got to stop or I may shed a tear or two.
Oh, and used to visit the Premier now and then too.

 

[Sgeir]

Jings, crivens, helpmaboab! I keep on getting the feeling on this forum that so many of us have either crossed paths before, or have come damn near it. In my teens in the 60s, I used to occasionally go to the Scotia on Friday nights, and Stevenson Taylors in Bridge Street on the Saturday - two different crowds.

The Scotia had a back room for the folkies- it was a narrow room with two rows of about four old tram seats facing each other, with the tables in the middle. Made going to the cludgie a bit difficult if you were at the far end - there would be over twenty people in this tiny unventilated nicotine stained space, and you had to crawl along the tables. Pints were spilt from time to time.

I was the baby of the bunch, probably still underage at the time. It was chaotic - guitars, banjoes, whistles, then the late Freddie Anderson would recite a new poem he'd written. Or Burns... Billy Connolly, pre-Humblebums, was just about finishing his apprenticeship AFAIR, and was already an accomplished banjo player, mimic, and writer of parodies. He and, I think, Tam Harvey, came back from two weeks bumming about in Greece, and one of them, can't remember which one, came in with a bazouki. They used to specialise in parodies of pop songs, usually with pretty dirty words eg they'd do the Who;
<ul type="square"> My name is Jack and I like it up the back
In the Greta Garbo home etc etc etc[/list]That was one of the cleaner ones.

Then there was Sean Tierney, now deid, who I knew in a different context. His best known song, which I think Connolly recorded, was a parody on a Rolf Harris song. The chorus went;
<ul type="square"> Did you think I would leave you lying,
When I can lie my head off too.
If some c*** squawks, while in the witness box,
I'll cover up for you.
I'll tell a pack of lies, pull the wool over their eyes,
The way the sergeant taught us to
Before you count to three, we'll both be off scot free,
Cos we're two little boys in blue. [/list]

Jobs weren't too plentiful (I was living in north Ayrshire by this time), and I moved south in 1969, and lost contact with that crowd. When up to visit my parents, I'd occasionally called in at the Scotia, maybe see some auld faces, but in the end I was the stranger. I've probably only been in there about ten times in the last thirty years. AFAIR, the old back room disappeared (probably became a ladies toilet - not sure there was one in the 60s).

Hey-ho. Great times. Other pubs always seemed a bit of a let-down after that.

 

[Kilter]

OK Donald, next time I'm up that way I shall meet you there and inspect the beer quality!

 

[Gordonmc]

The Scotia. Oldest pub in Glasgow, or so it claimed.
My first acquaintance was a bit later than yours... when the new Sheriff Court was built on the South side of the river the Scotia was the nearest watering holes for us hacks, or at least the nearest where we wouldn't be rubbing shoulders with the beaks.
I spent many hours in the company of some of the best journos in Scotland... all away now. Scriveners are all coffee drinking company boys now.
Many a time we ended the session pounding away on the old upright at the back of the long room.
Is it still there?

 

[tazzle]

On the other coast, but I've nothing but fond memories of Scottish pubs.

- The Halfway House, just up the passage from Waveney St station, open at 7.30am and just the thing after the sleeper
- Long laughter filled afternoons at a time when English pubs threw you out at 2.30
- The first time I ever saw a telly in a pub - watching, I think, a Pink Panther movie back in about 1978 somewhere down by the Botanic Gardens
- Finding the only Tory in Scotland drinking in a small pub near Loanhead and having to keep him company for ...hours and hours
- Being co-opted into a massive wedding party in Rosslyn; after a couple of hours, the groom was absolutely convinced we were from his side of the family, our polite protests being brushed aside.

Ah, joyous days.

 

[Superstrath]

The BA's still one of my favourites. In the 70s it was about the only place in Glasgow you could get a good pint. last night I had a few in The State Bar in Holland St. with Mrs. Superstrath. A smashing pub, regarded as "safe" since it is always hoachin' wi' bobbies fae Pitt St, but then I've never felt unsafe in city-centre pubs.
If we're going to walk as far as the Scotia, we should really have a couple in the Victoria, where I spent all my lunchtimes while at the Nautical College, after the great Cathadmara (sp?) was turned into a disco. There's the Clutha Vaults on the same block, never been in, but gets a good reputation for music and is run by a herbally-challenged friend of mine.

Alistair