21 Anderston Quay, Glasgow. G12 8HH.
Off the Record. 1991.
Off the Record was a favourite amid the Daily Record Staff. It was sited in the shadow of the Kingston Bridge and facing the River Clyde. The ground that it stood on will be used to create more housing in the area.
116 Byres Road, Glasgow. G12 Tel: 01413342666.
Oblomov. 1991.
The Whistlers Mother was the original name for this pub and was changed to Oblomov for a few years before going back to the Whistlers Mother.
Whistlers Mother. 2007.
774 Springfield Road, Glasgow. G31 4HL. Tel: 01415540361.
The Oak Bar. 1991.
The Oak Bar, August 2005.
This pub was formerly called the Clansman.
144 West Street, Glasgow. Demolished.
This photograph was taken in 1965, Eric Caldow, Ranger and Scotland footballer, scrapes £27 7 shillings from the mirror, proprietor Mr T Blue catches the coins in a bucket. The coins were stuck on the mirror by dipping it in your pint and when dried stuck like glue. The customers collected this amount for the home of the mentally handicapped children at Merchiston Hostel.
In 1891 Jane Mitchell was landlady of this popular West Street howff. Mrs Mitchell continued as licensee until the end of WW1.
During the 1930s David Craig ran this old pub followed by his wife Jean who held the licence from 1945.
One late February morning in 1956, just after opening time a three ton lorry and a Corporation bus collided outside the pub, the truck shot tight through the lounge window, showering glass and plaster all over the bar. The lorry became embedded in the masonry and could not be moved until the public house wall had to be shored up. A column supporting the four storey tenement above had been snapped.
Four persons were injured as a result of the crash. The fire brigade and gas board workers were called out in case a fire broke out as there was flooding fuel from the truck and escaping gas from one of the pipes. A no smoking order was issued by the police to the crowd of onlookers.
Inside the premises the burglar alarm was ringing, the trucks horn blared and the lights flickered, the plaster from the ceiling began to rain down on the bar.
65 year old Mrs Craig the proprietrix said “I got the shock of my life, I thought the whole place was collapsing.”
In spite of all this Mrs Craig continued to serve the customers with drink, while the lorry was still embedded in the lounge.
Interior view of the Norwood Arms, note the lorry embedded in the lounge.
Group of Glasgow Licensed Trade Golf Club members, front row left to right Mr H W G Kerr, Queen Anne., Mr A Hart, W MacNair & Co. Ltd., Mr J Blair, W MacNair & Co. Ltd., Back row Mr Norman Smith, Planet Bar, Mr T Salton, Smiddy Bar., Mr T Blue, Norwood Bar, Mr W Newall. 1966.
Glasgow Licensed Trade Golf Club at the Grand Hotel, front row Norman Smith, Mr P Smith, H W G Kerr, Mrs A Hart, Mr T Salton, rear Mr T Blue, Mr V Adkins, Mr W A Simpson, Mr A Hart, Mr J Escourt, Mr B Barclay, Mr J Logan, Mr W Redpath, Mr W Newall, Mr J Ryburn. 1966.
Do you remember this old pub? If so please leave a comment.
END.
401 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow. G2 3LG. Tel: 01413324449.
Variety Bar. 1991.
Variety Bar, photograph taken 1991.
Opened in 1970 by Patrick Clancy and known as the Norsk Inn.
In the News 1971…
Kings Arms brings back a good old style.
Over the years the traditional Scottish pub has been slowly disappearing from the Glasgow scene, to be replaced by a variety of bars ranging from palaces of glass and chrome to Bavarian style beer cellars.
And along with the new wall to wall carpets have come various forms of entertainment, so that there’s hardly a place left without its guitarist, beat group, or even sometimes full scale cabaret, – Or if live music is lacking, there’s taped music, and very often you can have anything from a snack to a full scale meal in your local too.
All this is fine, and generally welcome, but it does mean that there are getting to be fewer and fewer “pure” pubs left for the man who just wants to go for a quiet drink minus the trimmings.
Wide Range
But all is not lost. A new pub in the old style opened in Glasgow last week. A plain and simple pub, no snacks, no meals, no musack, just a warm and cosy place to go for a drop of the cratur or just about anything else you fancy from a pint of draught to a mellow single malt.
Called the King’s Arms, it’s on the corner of Elmbank Street and Sauchiehall Street, where the old Carswell’s used to be. Presiding over it is manager Mr Calum MacKenzie, who’s been in the trade for some years since he retired from the police force.
“You might say we’re deliberately reversing current trends in favour of going back to traditional Scottish drinking habits,” he told me. “Mind you, this doesn’t mean you’ll find sawdust on the floor.” What it does mean is that the King’s Arms will cater especially for the discerning drinker. “We’re a free house,” said Mr MacKenzie, “and in keeping with our policy we have a very wide range of drinks available.”
In fact the amenities are quite sophisticated, and it’s pleasant to find bowls of nuts and crisps as well as cocktail onions set out on the bar counter of the lounge. This is called the snug, and is in the basement of the premises, with the public bar on the ground floor.
There’s a good long bar counter in the public bar, handy for setting your elbows firmly planted on. Draught beer and lager are served in both bars, though restricted to half-pints only in the snug. Altogether it’s really quite a small pub, but with a well designed layout and two entrances to each bar.
Variety Bar. 2005.
Variety Bar. 2008.
2008.
2008.
28 Saltmarket, Glasgow.
This is a watercolour by W R Mainds showing the back of a timber building at 28 Saltmarket which housed the Old Nightingale Tavern, reputedly Glasgow’s first singing saloon. Two women are standing in the doorway of the building opposite the saloon. Thanks to the Mitchell Library.
Singing Saloons were especially common on the Saltmarket, offering a cheap and cheerful alternative to music halls with no entrance fee and the added attraction of cheap drink. Patrons sat at long wooden benches and were entertained with renditions of popular songs of the day and sometimes by comic turns. An entertainer who failed to please the audience would have been subjected to a barrage of abuse and rotten tomatoes thrown at them. These saloons gained a reputation for rowdiness, most had been closed down by the 1890s when the City Council’s redevelopments in the area.
