Main Street Bridgeton

The Lorne Bar

April 23, 2020 by John Gorevan 1 Comment

32-34 Main Street, Bridgeton, Glasgow. Demolished.

Mr Patrick Donaghue owned this premises in 1911 and was subject to a very important case that affected publicans since the passing of the Licensing and the Children Acts.

Important Case under Children Act

In 1911, Patrick Donaghue was at the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh because he was charged with a contravention of the Children Act 1908, section 120 for allowing 3 children under the age of 14 years old to be in the bar of his premises at 32 Main Street, Bridgeton on the 8th of November 1910.

Mr Donaghue was convicted and fined 31s 6d or seven days, but appealed the decision.

This appeal was very important for the pub trade at the time because the law was very vague about where children were allowed to be in a pub and this helped gain some clarity.

As a result of the drawing of the inside of the premises (below), the conviction was quashed and Patrick was entitled to 10 guineas of expenses as a result.

The full article from the National Guardian is available for print for a small cost, get in touch with us for more information.

Plans of the premises that were used in the appeal.

The Lorne Bar was also known as the Misty Inn Bar between 1976 – 1981.

The Anne Bar

January 25, 2017 by John Gorevan Leave a Comment

147 Main Street, Bridgeton, Glasgow.

This old pub was also known as the International Bar.

Main Street in Bridgeton was once a great shopping area in the East End of the City. Pub too were plentiful, and at one time there was 27 Public Houses on Main Street alone.

There has been a pub on this site since 1866. The licensee was a gentleman called Thomas McGibbon. The owners of the pub was a very old business called “The Bridgeton Old Victualling and Baking Society Ltd. Thomas wasn’t new to this kind of work as he moved from 98 Main Street where the Old Victualling & Baking Society had their premises before moving to 147 Main Street.

Thomas McGibbon was manager and licence holder for two premises on Main Street 98 and 102, Thomas lived at 51 Franklin Street with his family before moving to better accommodation at 117 Greenhead Street.

When Mr Thomas McGibbon passed away his friend Robert Muirhead took over as licensee and manager of the O.V & B. S. Mr Muirhead ran the pub from 1875 to around 1880

Over the years many licensees ran this old pub including after Robert Muirhead, Robert Dawson, he only held the licence for a few years, then John M Derby took over from 1884 to the early 1900. John paid an annual rent of £69 10/- (shillings).

John Aitken from 1910 until 1919. John Aitken was treasurer for the Bridgeton Old Victualling & Baking Society Ltd. John Proctor was next on line to hold the certificate. John held this position until 1935.

Terence McGowan 1937 to the 1950s. One of the last licensees was popular and well respected publican Hugh Bonner. Working for Mr Bonner was Pat O’Donnell and Ben McGreevy.

Mr Hugh Bonner.

More on the history of the Bridgeton Old Victualling & Baking Society Ltd, the Society was established in 1816 in Main Street Bridgeton and was known as the New Victualling Society. In 1825 Robert Issac was manager of the Victualling Society and purchaser.

The Baking Society was also in Main Street and 8 Well Street, Calton. The Bridgeton Union Victualling Society, the Friendly Victualling Society, the Operative Victualling Society, the Bridgeton Victualling Society.

By the 1840s, Alexander Campbell was manager of the Bridgeton Victualling Society, John Frame was the purchaser for the Bridgeton Victualling Society at Peebles Land, Main Street Bridgeton, The Friendly Victualling Society was run by Robert Morrison and the Operative Victualling Society was run by David Alexander. As time when on all the Societies merged together.

In the Recollections of Bridgeton by William Guthrie, mentioned three the the licence holders of the pub at 147 Main Street. Mr Guthrie stated that…

“There was a grocer’s shop opposite Rumford Street, owned by Mr McGregor. When he gave it up it was occupied by a company of printers. McDonald, McGibbon and Muirhead. The first named Hugh McDonald, the Rambler, who was appointed shopkeeper. These were all intimate friends of the writer.

This venture was unsuccessful and the partners came to grief. I believe if McGibbon has been appointed manager it would have been a success, as he afterwards became manager of the Bridgeton Old Victualling & Baking Society, and made it a prosperous concern.

When he died, Mr Muirhead followed in the same management, and this concern is still flourishing under the direction of working men and Mr Dawson, an expert salesman, with assistants.”

Hugh McDonald the Glasgow Rambler (1817-1860) was a popular author of publication as “Ramblers round Glasgow” and “Days at the coast.”

END.

Granny Robertson’s Inn.

January 25, 2017 by John Gorevan Leave a Comment

Snuffmill Road, Cathcart.

Granny Robertson’s Inn. C 1890s.

Granny Robertson’s Inn was a landmark in old Cathcart for three hundred years. The old inn was positioned near to the old paper and snuff mill and close to the river Cart. It was a favourite haunt with ramblers, old tales have it that Rabbie Burns wrote a poem on one of the doors of the old inn which was preserved for years, Mary Queen of Scot’s visited the inn and Hugh MacDonald the Rambler spent many happy hours under the roof of this quant inn.

For many years the licence was held by Blacksmith Mr Warnock, when he died the licence was transferred to former worker Mr Robertson. Mr Robertson saw many Glasgow folk travelling on a Sunday to Cathcart, where they would stop at the old inn for refreshments, when he died his wife Jane took over the licence. For over one hundred years the locals and travellers called this old inn Ye Olde Hoose, but was celebrated as the Wee Thatched Hoose in the Glen. It was a two storey whitewashed house at the end a row of small cottages.

The Auld hoose, the auld hoose, Close to the auld brig end, O mony a happy nicht’s been spent, At the auld hoose in the glen.

Mrs Robertson held the licence for over fifty years and the place became known as Granny Robertson’s. A number of years before Mrs Robertson’s death her daughter Mrs Hunter conducted the business, she had all the good qualities of her mother, politeness but firm when it came to refusing a drunk liquor, courtesy and kindness.

Jane Robertson ran the inn which was also known as “The Wee Thatched Hoose in the Glen.” The two-storied white-washed house stood at the end of a row of cottages in Snuffmill Road. There was a horse-drawn omnibus service between the city and the inn from the 1870s until 1894.

The old inn was demolished in 1892, but Mrs Hunter was granted a transfer licence to new premises at Rosebank Terrace, now Old Castle Road and Crompton Avenue. While the old inn was being demolished two swords were found in the thatch, antiquarians who inspected them declared that they belonged to the Queen Mary period, and the probability was that they were used at the battle of Langside. Mrs Hunter did not get possession of the swords.

The old traditions of the old inn were carried on to the new premises, the old Cathcart Burns Club met there along with other social clubs. The owner of the new building was a Mr Robert Peddie, who charged Mrs Hunter £60 rent per year for the property. The pub had two large rooms, the front room had tables and chairs were parties could sit. Mrs Hunter named this public house the Auld Hoose. Top quality ales and whiskies were only sold in the new pub.

The address of the new pub was 123 Castle Road. and was taken over by John T Adams in 1900. Mr Adams had another pub the Shawfield Bar at 291-93 Main Street, Bridgeton, situated at the north end of the Rutherglen Bridge. The two pubs had telephones connected Corporation no. y355 and National 2716, all the latest football results were received at a moments notice. Mr Adams was treasurer of the Clyde Football Club, he was also a member of the Lodge Union and Crown of Free Masons, also the Brave Old Oak, Free Gardeners, Bridgeton Burns Club and the Cathcart Curling Club. He was a breeder of Collie Dogs and in 1901 he had one of his dogs stolen which cost him a massive £20.00, a lot a money in those days.

The Shawfield Bar had six large plate glass windows beautifully engraved. The bar counter, bar fittings, cornices and frescoes were a work of art. The counter panels were of walnut and oak picked out with gold, the doors and screens were of maple and mahogany wood and was lit by five massive oxydised silver pendant lights.

John gave up the licence in Main Street, Bridgeton in 1906 and concentrated on the Auld Hoose, Cathcart. However Cathcart went dry in 1921 and the Auld Hoose was closed down, locals then had to travel to the Queens Park Cafe, Victoria Road for a drink. The pub was converted to a bakery shop called Kirkwood’s.

Mr John T Adams. 1901.

Facts…

Licence Holders.

Granny Robertson’s Inn.

1840s Mr Robertson.

1850s-1880s Jane Robertson.

1889 Mrs Hunter.

The Auld Hoose.

1897 Mrs Hunter.

1900-1921 John Thomson Adams.

Shawfield Bar.

1898-1906 John T Adams.

1906-1919 James Kemp.

1938 Alexander Hardie.

1960 Mary M Hardie.

1973 Andrew Marshall Casey.

1976 Mr D McNiven.

END.