184 Caledonia Road, corner of 370 Lawmoor Street, Gorbals, Glasgow.
William Lapsley’s Vaults. 1892.
William Lapsley’s Vaults was situated at the corner of 184 Caledonia Road and 370 South Wellington Street which became Lawmoor Street. In 1892 William Lapsley was landlord for this popular Gorbals public house. Mr Lapsley was better known as a footballer than a license holder. He was born in Dumbarton in 1866 and served his apprenticeship in the engineering trade, but abandoned it for a life in the licensed trade. He served as a manager for a couple of years with Mr S J McCutcheon, where he obtained a thorough insight into the various branches of the trade.
Mr Lapsley acquired the pub in 1891 from William Paton who retired from the trade. The main bar was entered from South Wellington Street, a large well stocked bar and gantry with large casks was a feature of the premises, with little rooms or snug’s taking up the rest of the space. The Family Department (off license) was entered from Caledonia Road which did a great trade on it’s own. Younger’s, Bass’s and Allsopp’s ales were stocked.
Mr William Lapsley. 1892.
Mr Lapsley’s fame as a footballer had spread all over Scotland. For years he was an active member of the Dumbarton Football Club and after coming to Glasgow he joined the 3rd L.R.V. Club. He was one of the 3rd L.R.V. team when they, for the first and only time, won the Charity Cup. Since he began business on his own account he had practically abandoned participation in football, although an enthusiastic admirer of the game. He devoted all his time in the pub and found it paid better than frittering away his time on the football field.
For the first few months the business was very successful, but when the novelty was over he soon found out who hard it was in those days to run a pub. William struggled and the pub game was not paying and subsequently sold the business after only 19 months or so behind the bar. William Rose a wine and spirit merchant then took over the pub, he had experience in the trade and was quite successful in the time he was here. Like all publican’s, he struggled for a few years during the First World War.
During the 1930s John Milligan was landlord, many will still remember James McKinlay who ran the pub in the 60s until it was finally demolished like most all the other pubs in the Gorbals.
Many will remember this old pub as the Welcome Inn.
The Welcome Inn. 1960s. On the ground floor of Wellington Corner.
Before this popular pub was called the Welcome Inn it was known as the White Swan, however the locals named it the Mucky Duck.
Leave a Reply