588a Gallowgate, Glasgow. G40 2PE. Demolished.
The Club Bar on the right hand side.
When this image was taken in the 1960s, The Club Bar was then owned by Celtic Football fame John Bonnar. The Club bar sat at the corner of Gallowgate and Orr Street.
John Bonnar will go down in Celtic folklore for his part in ensuring one of the great unique triumphs in Celtic history.
Thanks to the Celtic Wiki.
Born in West Calder – John was signed in August 1948 from Arbroath Bonnar – the son of Donegal parents – he had originally made a name for himself as a junior. However it would be in the Coronation Cup of 1953 that the keeper would earn his place in Celtic and football folklore. Prior he was a shale-miner but was much sought after as a player.
John Bonnar was nicknamed as ‘Tiger’ due to a perceived similarity in looks to the great Moscow Dynamo keeper ‘Tiger’ Khomich, not a bad accolade.
This very old and popular Gallowgate howff was originally called “Wyper’s Bar.”
In the summer of 1878 James Wyper, son of the founder of the business John Wyper acquired this pub. His father had pubs in many parts of the city including Gallowgate, Dale Street, Shuttle Street, Main Street, Bridgeton, Dalmarnock Road, London Road and Sauchiehall Street.
To read more on the pubs on the Gallowgate read up & Doon the Gallowgate by John Gorevan. A copy can be bought for a few pounds at the Hielan Jessie on the Gallowgate or contact me at john@oldglasgowpubs.co.uk
Also see Celtic Football players that owned pubs.
Facts…
Licensees’…
1973 Hugh McLellan Hall.
1960 Allan Anderson.
1950 David Fulton Watson Sim.
1941 Peter McPhee.
1924 Alex Mowat.
1922 John Strang Wyper.
1921 John Strang Wyper, also a pub in Kirkintilloch.
1878 James Wyper.
Do you remember the Club Bar or any of the old Pubs on the Gallowgate? If so please leave a comment.
John Bonnar was a friend of my family and he and his family lived across the street in Drumover Drive. We were teenagers and friendly with his daughters and one Saturday evening John had a staff problem and asked us to do a shift in The Club. For me it was a real education, although I was born in Inverness of Scottish parents I had been brought up in Surrey from the age of 2 years old. The Club was the friendliest pub, filled with lots of characters who really did sing “airey hallllll”, like Billy Connolly depicted them. At the end of the night we got a round of applause and a whip around amounting to quite a bit of cash… which we spent at the Barras the following day.
My mother betty melrose used to clean the pub in the sixties after 9 a.m went to clean there after see took us to annefield Street school