Pubs on Duke Street

The Auld Gushet Hoose, 151 Duke Street, Glasgow.

The Auld Gushet Hoose 1958.

This old Duke Street howff sat at the gushet of Duke Street and St. Ann’s Place, which became known as Parkhouse Lane. Many will remember this old pub as Jack’s Bar.

The first licensee of these premises was James McCulloch in 1850  at 171 Duke Street, as Duke Street was growing the address changed to St Ann’s Place then 169 Duke Street, 149 then finally 151 Duke Street. James McCulloch was still landlord  an continued so until 1873.

A lady then acquired the licence, Mrs Margaret Wright, but she only lasted in the old pub for a short spell. The Montgomery family then took over the pub, they lasted a bit longer, 18 years to be precise, this meant they were making a living out of this popular east end howff. Scottish Brewer’s acquired the pub many years down the line, a strange situation as Tennent Caledonian Brewery was situated right next door.

Mr Kenneth Howie Wallace took over the pub in 1895, paying an annual rent of £60. Mr Wallace sold up in 1907. James McInness then took over, during the First World War James kept this old pub open and at the end of the war his rent was £77, 10 shillings. Mr McInness continued to serve the locals until 1926.

During the 1930s and 40s James Hutchison wine and spirit merchant occupied the premises, he also had pub on Paisley Road West called James Hutchison.

After James Hutchison, Scottish & Newcastle Breweries took over the pub, many will still remember the licensees as John D Campbell and Bruce Fortune Duff. Mr Campbell was also licensee at 130 Gloucester Street at the corner of Clarence Street.

Jack’s Bar. 1960s.

The pub stayed open until the late 1970s, and was demolished in the way of redevelopment in the area.

The Lorne Bar, 125-127 Duke Street.

Police car waiting outside the Lorne Bar in Duke Street. 1976.

There was another Auld Gushet House at no 125 Duke Street which later became known as the Lorne. It was established in 1845, during that time there was no interruption in the licence until around 1900. In 1892 the proprietor was Mr Archibald Sharp, whose connection with the business began when he was a boy. Back in the pre-MacKenzie times, when Thomas Elder, who was for thirty-five years as lessee, Mr Sharp recollect of customers knocking the house-hold up long after midnight to get served and they had no alternative but to serve them, so tyrannical and arbitrary were the laws then that regulated the holder of a licence.

Mr Elder was at the outset of his career a blacksmith, and the first manufacturer of the portable iron horse which was shipped in hundreds to the Colonies. The old pub had undergone many internal changes and some external ones, but it still retained many traces of the typical old Glasgow taverns. The walls, at least several of them were hand-painted, a feature which probably is unique so far as the trade of Glasgow is concerned. In the 1850s an artist offered Mr Elder to paint the walls with landscapes and figures. Mr Elder consented, not stipulating for the cost. The artist worked away for a long time, and at the close of the job presented a bill for over a hundred pounds. The work was well done, as could be seen in the 1890s; but although Mr Elder protested against the amount he had to meet the bill.

To old Glasgow people the Auld House was mainly associated with the diminutive figure of a man which adorns the north-western gable. The black little man, which oscillates with every gust of wind, has been an object of interest to children for close on half a century. It still held it’s place in 1892. A new pub took it’s place at the beginning of the 1900s still owned by the Elder family. The address was now 127 Duke Street, over the years Glasgow publican’s have run the pub and left their mark, some of them you may remember during and after the First World War Andrew N Ritchie was landlord followed by Mr Lawrence Carson and William Carson, George A MacKay was one of the last licensee’s during the 1970s. The pub was then demolished, the old tavern was then known as the Lorne.

In the NEWS 1976…

Masked gang grab £150 in pub raid.

Police were searching last night for three armed men who burst into a Glasgow pub, threatened the staff, and grabbed £150 in cash and charity coppers.

The men, masked and carrying a gun, a hatchet, and a knife, knocked on the door of the Lorne Bar, 127 Duke Street, at about 10.40 a.m. Mrs Margaret Shannon, the manageress, who was preparing the shop with two other women, answered the door.

The raiders burst past her, brandishing the weapons. They forced the women to stand against the wall. The men were told that the cash had already been banked. But they found about £150, including charity money for old-age pensioners and a children’s home. They also took cigarettes. Then they drove away in a red car.

Do you remember any of the above pub? if so please get in touch and tell your story…

Facts…

Duke Street is the longest Street in the UK.

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