Take a Look into the History of Glasgow's Sauchiehall Street Pubs

Sauchiehall Street is well-known for Stag and Hen groups visiting the city as well as our own Glaswegians looking for a cracking night out!

The Snaffle Bit

March 22, 2017 by John Gorevan 1 Comment

979 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow. G3 7TQ. Tel: 01413397163.

The Snaffle Bit. 1991.

In 1960 Francis Robert Campbell obtained a licence to sell wine, beer & spirits at their new premises 979 Sauchiahall Street.

When the Second World War ended Mr Campbell took over the Snaffle Bit, Howard Street, which was formerly owned by John Thomson. Francis left the pub in Howard Street in 1960, the old pub was then taken over by Joseph Dodds.

Mr Campbell then removed to Sauchiehall Street where he traded for many years. When Francis Campbell passed away in 1981 his son Ewan took over the running of the pub.

The Snaffle Bit was named by John Scouller who owned some of the best known pubs in the city of Glasgow, including the Horse Shoe Bar, Drury Street and the Spur Bar, Polmadie. All his pubs had horse themes with horse shoes everywhere, photographs of horses hung on the walls, Scouller was one of the first men in Scotland to have a horse shoe shaped bar.

Left to right Mr J Hilson, Francis Campbell. This photograph was taken at the opening of the new lounge at the Snaffle Bit, Howard Street. Mr Hilson was the oldest drinking customer in the pub, he was a regular patron on the premises since 1910, he was a news vender at the corner of St Enoch Square and used to pop in for a quick one in between serving his customers.

The group of guests at the opening of the new lounge at the Snaffle Bit, Howard Street which included a number of trade personalities.

Licensed trade outing 1957. left to right T Doherty of Joseph Dunn Bottlers, Mrs Doherty, Mrs McCarry, Francis Campbell, Snaffle Bit, J Foy of John Jeffrey & Co Ltd, Mr McCarry, Mrs Francis Campbell, John Kennedy, Morven Bar.

Various photographs of the Snaffle Bit. 2005.

Interior view of the lounge bar.

Mr Ewan Campbell pouring a pint for one of the locals.

When I called at the Snaffle Bit owner Ewan Campbell was very pleasant so was the numerous locals. This is a friendly pub where you can get a good pint or a dram of whisky. If your interested in a social pub in the area of sauchiehall Street and the Mitchell Library this is a must, you have to give this pub a long visit. In short this is a great sociable pub with no bother of drunks or neds.

Cheers to Mr Campbell and the locals.

The Snaffle Bit. 2008.

2011 update…

The Snaffle Bit is now owned by Belhaven Brewery.

Silk

March 22, 2017 by John Gorevan Leave a Comment

437 Sauchiehall Street. Glasgow. G2. Tel: 0141 332 1155.

Silk. 2006.

Reveras

March 15, 2017 by John Gorevan Leave a Comment

447 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow. G3.

Reveras. 1991.

Porter’s

March 15, 2017 by John Gorevan 1 Comment

292 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow. G2 3JA. Tel: 0141 332 5457.

Porter’s. 1991.

This was the site of the famous Ross’s Dairy. In 1973 Philip Sidney Walters occupied the premises as a public house and licensed restaurant known as the Maggie.

Tennent Caledonian Breweries were hosts at a tasting and buffet in the Radnor Hotel, Clydebank. (Left to right) Mr. E. Tarquini, Cisco; Mr. D. E. M. Matthews, Tennent Caledonian; Mr. P. Walters, The Maggie; Miss S. Hytch; Mrs. P. Walters; Mr. A. M. Brown, Station catering manager, Travellers Fare, Glasgow; Miss M. Irving, bars manager, Queen Street Station; Mr. W. H. Finlay, sales director, Tennent Caledonian; Mrs. R Fretwell; Mr. M. B. P. Fraser, Tennent Caledonian, area sales manager, Glasgow West; Mr. R. Fretwell, The Oriental. 1975.

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In the NEWS 1979…

Ghost with a Vodka Taste…

A hard days night for manager Brian Dougall. 1979.

A Ghost with a taste for 100-proof vodka is haunting a Glasgow pub.

The ghostly goings-on at The Maggie in Sauchiehall Street are scaring the living daylights out of the staff and customers.

Chairs moving by themselves, glasses shaking and freezing temperatures in the darkest corners of the pub have convinced the staff that a spirit is haunting them.

ALL RIGHT

But the worst sin of all, according to manager Brian Dougall, is that the ghost is drinking his private supply of 100 proof vodka, without even breaking the seal on the bottle.

“It’s quite extraordinary,” said 29-year-old Brian, from East Kilbride. “The ghost is drinking my vodka without even breaking the seals on the bottle. Already the equaivalent of two half is gone from some of them.”

Brian, who took over as manager of the Maggie only a month ago, decided last night to see once and for all if there really is a ghost in one of Glasgow’s favourite drinking haunts. He stayed past the witching hour of midnight, ready to face the Maggie’s ghostly intruder.

Armed with blankets, coffee and some stronger refreshment Brian sat out the lonely hours last night.

STRANGE

He said this morning: “It was pitch black after all the lights went out, and much colder than it should have been.

“I kept imagining I heard movements at the back of the pub, but I’m not so brave that I was going to go investigate by myself.” Brian survived the night unscathed, without any appearance from the ghost. But he is convinced the Maggie is haunted.

“One of our cleaners refuses to go alone into the back area of the pub, and there certainly is a strange atmosphere there,” he said.

The previous owners of the pub had two dogs, which refused to go inside the building, he added. Brian has, however, a grudging respect for his ghostly customers. “It’s taking the best booze in the house,” he said. “It’s just a pity it has to be mine.”

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Porters was a one of the best entertainment pubs in Sauchiehall Street at one time. Yates’s now occupies the site.

Yates’s, photograph taken October 2005.

Yates’s Tel: as above.

Yates’s. 2008.

also see Yates’s other pub in Sauchiehall Street.

O’Neill’s

March 15, 2017 by John Gorevan Leave a Comment

451-53 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow. G2 3LG. Tel: 0141 353 4371.

O’Neill’s. 2005.

O’Neill’s. 2008.

This pub is now called Shenanigans – 2019

The Variety Bar

March 14, 2017 by John Gorevan Leave a Comment

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.