124 Bridgegate, Glasgow.
The pub on the right hand side was Hugh McGrail’s bar, it sat at the corner of Aird’s Lane which was on the other side of the road from Hurrell’s old pub which is now the Westering Winds.
Archibald Donely a publican from the High Street occupied these premises in the 1870s.
In 1894 Hugh McGrail took over the old pub, he got his training in the spirit trade from his father Patrick, a wine & spirit merchant who traded from a small pub at 76-78 Eglinton Street. Patrick came from Ireland in the 1870s to set up as a publican in Glasgow, he lived with his wife Bridget and a large family of six children in Stockwell Street just around the corner from the Bridgegate. Hugh was the eldest son and worked in his father pub in Eglinton street as a waiter, his brothers William and Andrew also worked in the trade during summer holidays.
When Patrick passed away Hugh took control of his fathers pub and his own business in the Bridgegate. However when his sister Bridget became old enough to hold a licence she took over as licensee for her fathers pub on Eglinton Street.
Hugh McGrail’s bar in the Bridgegate was demolished in the 1920s.
Other Bridgegate Pubs…
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