Address N

27-29 North Frederick Street, Glasgow

Queens Bar 1960s.

There’s been a pub on this site since 1845.

There has been licensed premises here since 1845, Mr James Penden was licensee and stayed in the family until the 1860s.

Wine and Spirit Merchant Alexander Gillon acquired the premises in 1872, business prospered and by the 1880s he was also trading at 130 Woodlands Road (Arlington Bar,) he was living at that time in Cessnock, Govan before moving to better accommodation at The Glen, Uddingston.

Robert Bowes a well-known and respected wine and spirit merchant and a Director of the Scottish wine and spirit merchants Benevolent Institution, took over the pub in 1884. Mr. Bowes also had a licensed grocer’s business at 79 Elderslie Street, 212 Sauchiehall Street, he was living at 140 Mains Street.

In 1899 Robert paid an annual rent of £115,00 for the premises in North Frederick Street, he also had pubs at 614 Rutherglen Road, 160 Caledonia Road, and a grocer’s at 212 Sauchiehall Street, he was then living at 134 Holland Street, off Sauchiehall Street.

Mr. Robert Bowes celebrated his Silver Wedding Anniversary in July 1898. He passed away in January, 1916, leaving an estate valued at £66,122. William George McFadden, acquired the premises in Elderslie Street only a year before his death.

William McFadden continued to run the pub until the 1960s.

Queen’s Bar near the corner of George Square.

In the News 1971…

Pub price veto delays property development.

The development of a site in the centre of Glasgow may be threatened because the Scottish Office are against the price negotiation for part of the property involved, a public house at North Frederick Street.

After discussions going back several years, Glasgow Corporation planning committee, who own the rest of the block covering North Hanover Street, George Street and North Frederick Street, offering £65,000 to Mr A. W. Sinclair for the Queen’s Bar, at 27-29 North Frederick Street, where his wife, Mrs. M. V. Sinclair, is licensee.

“They wanted to buy and asked my price,” Mr Sinclair said at the weekend. “I asked £70,000 but we settled on their offer of £65,000. “On the strength of that I bought other property at South Frederick Street and got a licence for it, conditional on handing over the licence for the Queen’s Bar.”

Deal Off

Mr Sinclair considered that all that was needed was the final sanction of the corporation, which he thought would be a formality. The corporation, however sent him a letter stating that the deal was off as the Scottish Development Department would not allow them to offer £65,000. The Department said the figure of £45,000 put up by the district valuator was sufficient

“We are in a cleft stick,” Mr. Sinclair said, “We can take the £45,000, or sit tight and hope something else turns up. We cannot extend the Queen’s Bar because the corporation keep saying it has a short life.

“If I don’t get into the new premises by March, when the licensing court sit, I may well lose the new licence.

“If I sit here, it is holding up any possible corporation development. I do not want to be the man in the middle but I think I have had a raw deal. “The corporation want to buy. I want to sell. Their own estates department agreed on the figure. Why should the Development Department step in like this?”

Mr Sinclair added: “We could negotiate. I would look at a lower figure, together with compensation for the interest on my over draft for the premises at South Frederick Street.” Councillor Donald McColl, convener of the corporation planning committee, said, “We are in a cleft stick too. This is a problem the new administration inherited after the May elections.

“It is rare for the Development Department to veto a price like this. We are worried about the whole block of property becoming an eyesore.”

Possible projects

The block is beside the North British Hotel and Queen Street railway station, and diagonally opposite the City Chambers in George Square and because of its central position may be developed for a prestige project. A report suggesting possible projects is understood to have been prepared by corporation officials and to be going before the planning committee later this month.

No development would be likely to go ahead if part of the property were still occupied. Councillor McColl said he recognised this danger and was searching for an acceptable way out of the predicament. One possibility being quietly explored behind the scenes is the feasibility of a form of voluntary arbitration, where both sides would put their case and their price to an independent authority of such high repute that the Development Department would be able to accept whichever solution was offered.

Queen’s Bar advert 1974.

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Queens Bar advert 1975.

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In the News 1976…

Queens Bar advert 1976.

Queen’s Bar, 1976 advert a bottle of whisky £3.42.