106 Oxford Street, Glasgow. S.S.

Quinn’s Tavern, 106 Oxford Street. Thanks to Norrie McNamee for the image.

Oxford Street is not the longest Street by far, but it has had seven Public Houses to choose from. In the entire history of this pub only seven families ran this pub.

The first licensee was Wine & Spirit Merchant Mr William Russell who acquired a certificate in 1879. William lived at 102 South Portland Street with his family.

Alexander Imrie was the next licensee, he occupied the premises until 1894.

The first lady to hold the licence was Mrs J Neilson. Mrs Neilson lived in an exclusive address at 7 Abbotsford Place in 1896.

Robert Graham was another well known publican to hold the certificate. Mr Graham paid an annual rent of £60 and was granted a licence on 13/04/1898.

Robert Graham gave up the pub at the start of the First World War. This is when George Quinn acquired the licence in 1915. George too was living at a well to do address at 40 Abbotsford Place.

The Quinn family continued to serve the locals here until the 1970s. Other members of the Quinn family included, Daniel McKillop Quinn, Daniel also had the The Royal Oak Bar, 248 Nitshill Road. Daniel Duffy, James Quinn and Mary Agnes Quinn.

Can you remember any of the pubs on Oxford Street, if so please get in touch, or do you remember any other pub names in the area.

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.

—————————————————————————

Queens Bar advert 1975.

——————————————————————–

In the News 1976…

Queens Bar advert 1976.

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

Other Pubs on North Frederick Street…

Ark the. 42

George the. 41

Inverness Vaults. 46

Old Printwork’s. 36

Queen’s Bar. 27-29

17 Renfield Street, Glasgow.

The Quality Inn, advert 1977.

1860 Paisley Road West, Glasgow. G52 3SX. Tel: 01418836538.

Quo Vadis. 1991.

Built in the 1960s Quo Vadis was one of the most up-to-date licensed cocktail bars and restaurant in the area. Manageress Mrs Lee Murawska won first prize in the big Cossack Fruit Machine Contest in 1966, she collected a cheque for £250, both she and her husband, who were Polish, went on holiday to Poland with the winnings. Manager Mr M Spillard collected a cheque for £75.

Mr Alasdair Morland, Scottish representative for Cossack with Mrs Lee Murawska, manageress of the Quo Vadis 1966.

The Quo Vadis advert 1974.

———————————————————————————–

Drunk Dog.

There was this dog in the pub who thought he’d been given short measure.

In the NEWS 1975…

Mr. Gilbert Toner and his drunk Alsatian dog Mick. 1975.

Mick, a Glasgow Alsatian dog, is a hardened drinker.

He has been known to down 11 pints in a night. And when he suspected that he had been served a short measure of whisky in a pub trouble began.

The story of the uncanny friendship between man and dog was told at Govan Police Court yesterday. Gilbert Toner (50), of 128 Dormanside Road, Pollok, was fined £22 for assault, breach of the peace, and refusing to leave the public house when asked. At the end of the two-hour trial he set off for home with his “old friend” padding along at his side.

In his evidence Mr Toner told the astonished Court that his dog usually drank beer “but when he wants whisky he gives me a nudge.” On the day of the pub incident the dog had about three pints and then switched to whisky.

“The dog is my only companion so why shouldn’t he come out for a drink?” he asked. Staff from the Quo Vadis public house in Paisley Road West, Glasgow, spoke of the June afternoon when Toner and Mick, a five year old dog with an impressive pedigree, walked into the bar. Toner was told that no dogs were allowed in, but insisted on having a drink.

Mrs Julie Congleton, a bar assistant, said the dog put its paws on the bar and Toner told her: “If you don’t give me a drink I’ll tell him to come over and eat you alive.”

REFUSED SERVICE

After this threat he was served, but the staff noticed that Toner wasn’t drinking alone. The dog was happily lapping whisky and beer from an ash tray.

Finally, when the staff refused to serve him. Toner began cursing and threw a pint jug, striking a barman in the stomach. When three police officers arrived they found customers in the bar terrified and cowering in a corner. There was glass all over the floor and a “Large Alsatian dog was charging around.”

Constable Robert Clark said the dog was going crazy but he held it by the lead while the other officers led Toner out of the bar, across Paisley Road West, and into Cardonald police office nearby.

He backed away

Constable Clark said he held on to the lead and the dog dragged him across the road and into the police office behind his arrested master. Toner told the Court that the only time he had complained in the bar was when he found he had been given a short measure.

“I bought the dog a double whisky and one for myself, but when I held it out to him he backed away I looked closer and saw there was less whisky in his glass and he had noticed. He wanted my glass. It had more in it.”

Toner, who is deaf, gave evidence with the help of an interpreter. During the trial Mick was variously described as being “as large as a pit pony” and a “big, soft, docile lump.” During the trial he was kept sober in police custody.

Neither Toner nor the dog had been in trouble before.

Mr Paul Burns, who reported Toner, said that the bond between the dog and its master was very much deeper than the normal relationship between dog and owner.

Quo Vadis advert 1975.

Licence Holders.

1991 Moyra McIntosh for Scottish & Newcastle Breweries.

1972 Catherine Elizabeth McNaughton Healey.

130 Kirkintilloch Road, Bishopbriggs, Glasgow. G64.

Quin. 1991.

This is the same family that owned Quin’s Gushet bar at the bottom of the Balgrayhill, Springburn.

To read the full history of Quin’s click here.

Quin. 2006.

726-728 Springburn Road, Glasgow.

Quin’s Gushet Bar sat at the bottom of Balgrayhill Road, Springburn.

To read the full history of this popular Springburn howff Click Here.

103 Queen Elizabeth Square, Gorbals, Glasgow.

Queens Bar. 1991.

Opened in 1972 when the Gorbals had it’s first face-lift, licensee Walter Johnston must have been so proud of this brand new public house in a new housing scheme with high rise flats all around him.

Before the pub was demolished James Clancy was licensee, the Clancy family had pub all over the city at one time, during the 1960s and 70s James and John ran the Scotia Bar on London Road at the corner of Fraser Street, Vincent Clancy ran the Carnarvon Bar, St. George’s Road and John ran the Laurieston on Bridge Street.

In the 1960s there was Patrick Clancy who occupied pubs in Sauchiehall Street, Govan Road and Elder Street, while James ran a pub on North Woodside Road.

The Queen’s Bar is now demolished, it was flattened just like the high flats and shops to make way for the new Gorbals housing estate which looks fantastic.

Licence Holders.

1991 James Clancy.

1972 Walter Johnston.

530 Victoria Road, Glasgow. G42.

Queens Park Cafe. 1991.

There has been a pub on this site since 1870. Landlord John A McArthur occupied the premises until the middle of the 1870s, his wife Margaret then took control of the business after his death until 1885, when she sold the pub to Alexander Sutherland.

Mr Sutherland was fortunate enough to own the property and renamed the pub to Queen’s Park Cafe in the 1890s as this was the peak of the temperance movement. As the pub was situated in an exclusive part of the south side with tenements filled with ladies and gentlemen of the city, the pub was a target by the temperance movement and was under threat of closure. Mr Sutherland like many other city publican added the title Cafe to their premises.

Gilmour’s Oatmeal Stout was a specialty at Queen’s Park Cafe during the early part of the 1900s. After nearly 30 years trading in this pub, the Sutherland family sold it at the beginning of the First World War to Alexander Graham Harper. The Harper family continued in this pub until the 1960s. David Houston then took over as licensee until the late 1970s.

This popular south side local is still going strong, the late Mr Mark McManus of Taggart fame, the Scottish Television detective series drank here for years and regarded this as his local.

Licence Holders.

1978-1967 David Houston.

1960 M Harper.

1950 Jessa McFeat Jones Williamson for the late Jessie Harper.

1937 Jessie M F Harper.

1920-1914 Alexander Graham Harper.

1914-1886 Alexander Sutherland.

1885-1880 Mrs Margaret McArthur.

1875-1870 John A McArthur.

Other Victoria Road Pubs…

Calder the. 349

Depot the. 78

McNee’s. 275-79

Nickie Tams. 500-510

O’Donnell’s. 500-510

Old Vic. 500-510

Pandora. 349

Victoria Bar the. 400

42 Oswald Street, Glasgow.

Quarter Gill. 1991.

There has been a pub on this site since 1870, spirit dealer James Tennent lived just around the corner in Ann Street. Two years later the pub was owned by Thomas Kirkham , the name above the door was Kirkham’s Bar with wine & spirits at each side of his name.

Thomas Kirkham was born in England in 1830 at an early age he joint the forces and fought in the Indian Mutiny. He met his wife Margaret in Barbados, West Indies. They had 8 children Matthew the eldest was born in Tyzebad, Thomas and Jessie were both born in Sutapore and Mary Jane was born in Kussarolie, East Indies. When they settled in Glasgow they had another four children Margaret, Annie, James and Arthur.

Thomas took over the pub in Oswald Street in 1872 trading here until his death in 1917, he was then residing in Kent Avenue, Jordanhill. His son Thomas George Kirkham then took over as trustee, he had the most experience in the licensed trade as he ran 2 pubs of his own in Ingram Street and West Campbell Street. When his father died he left no estate except £1000 and his pub which was quite a lot of money in those days, his two unmarried daughters were solely dependent upon the business.

Thomas jun later disposed of the pubs in West campbell Street and Ingram Street and took over another in Paisley Road at the corner of Pollok Street. He continued to hold the licence for Oswald Street until 1939.

Licence Holders.

1991 William Hurt.

1978-1965 Henry Clayton Shacklady.

1960-1940 Kenneth McKenzie.

1939-1917 Thomas George Kirkham as trustee.

1917-1872 Thomas Kirkham