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Category: UK

  • Glasgow – Pavement

    Glasgow – Pavement

    Whilst randomly walking about in Glasgow, I noticed that this bar cafe type set-up had very good reviews, so I thought that I’d pop in for food and drinks. I wasn’t entirely sure what kind of set-up this would be, but actually it’s a really informal place which has managed to become what I would call on-trend without doing anything formulaic. They’ve instead focused on excellent customer service, a thoughtful craft beer selection and decent food. That to me is a winning combination.

    As I’m a slight idiot, I tried to order a half of a beer that was actually served in a can. Force of habit and I must admit that I didn’t really pay a huge amount of attention to the options as I was just taken with having a raspberry sour.

    I was very pleased to discover when the can that was brought over that it’s from the excellent Põhjala brewery in Estonia. I’ve had several of their beers, including the Must Kuld and the Must Kuld Chilli & Chocolate, both at the Artichoke in Norwich. I thought that this was a rather decent raspberry sour with a rich and not overpowering flavour with quite an acidic aftertaste that wasn’t unpleasant. Nice, and a reminder that I want to go to Estonia….

    It transpired that I had entered 12 minutes before they were taking last orders for food. I try to avoid doing that as not to annoy kitchens, but since I had got this far and the staff were friendly, I ordered anyway.

    The fish and chips were excellent, with a soft and light batter which I’m more used to getting on the European mainland. I also appreciated the generous portion of lemon, as sometimes the slither offered really is quite pointless. There was nothing greasy, everything tasted of a good quality and was cooked appropriately, so I was entirely satisfied. The menu wasn’t overly large, which I see as a positive, with a  variety of specials as well.

    The customer service here is also personable and attentive, so the environment feels comfortable and welcoming. I can see why the reviews are so positive, this is a really managed and run bar with a slightly continental feel that I really like. Given their prominent position in Merchant City, and next door to Brewdog, I did wonder if this was operated by a large company but it transpires that it’s a family run business. All really lovely.

  • Glasgow – Tenement House

    Glasgow – Tenement House

    This is the Tenement House in Glasgow, now in the care of the National Trust for Scotland. As National Trust members can also gain access to properties in Scotland for free, I thought that I’d pre-book a ticket since it’s only open on Fridays to Sundays.

    The National Trust have displays on the ground and first floors. They perhaps don’t need so much space for their shop and cafe given the limited area they have to work with, but I suppose it all raises revenue for the charity. The volunteers (or staff, I’m not sure whether they’re paid) here are friendly and engaging, so it all felt welcoming.

    An exhibition room in one of the two flats that were on the first floor. The other flat, which comprises of four rooms, has been returned to what it might have looked like at the beginning of the twentieth century.

    The bathroom in the flat. I hadn’t quite realised that this tenement was one which was built in the 1890s for the middle classes, I had for some reason thought that it was a block which had been lived in by the poorer members of society. I asked the friendly volunteer about this and she explained that this was quite an aspirational development and that many other people in Glasgow would have lived in much worse conditions. I think my confusion was because I associate tenements in Glasgow with something rather less salubrious. Anyway, as bathrooms go, it’s not bad at all and would have felt quite state of the art at the time.

    The bedroom.

    What a lovely idea, a bedroom in a cupboard. There’s one in the room the other side as well.

    The kitchen area with its large range. The property was lived in by Agnes Toward between 1911 and 1965, before she gifted it to the National Trust for Scotland.

    And the living room.

    There wasn’t a vast amount here to see and so I think I’d have been disappointed if I’d paid full price, which was £8.50 for an adult, probably too much given a visit isn’t going to last more than half an hour. But, given that I got in free, I thought that this was an interesting diversion for a Friday morning. It is though perhaps not a typical example of how the average Glasgow resident would have been living in the late nineteenth century, although to be fair, most National Trust properties aren’t really very good examples of how the poorest lived.

  • Glasgow – Glasgow Subway

    Glasgow – Glasgow Subway

    I use London Underground a lot, so was strangely and frankly needlessly excited to use the Glasgow Subway, which is the third oldest network in the world. It’s also the oldest in the world still to be in its original form as there hasn’t been an expansion since it opened on 14 December 1896. It took them six years to build it and there are fifteen stations (and always have been since it opened) on the 6.5 miles circular route. What wasn’t entirely ideal was that in its first week there was a crash at St. Enoch station when one carriage ran into the back of another one. It didn’t discourage the locals though who were apparently mostly quite excited about this new service.

    There’s an Outer and Inner network, although they’re both the same other than they go around the circle in a different direction. There’s just the one line, so there’s not much chance of getting lost.

    The platforms, some of which are laid out differently so that there are separate platforms for each direction.

    And the train itself. Rather impressively, this is only the second set of carriages that the network has had, with the first ones in use between 1896 and 1977, and the second set from 1979 until today. There’s good news though, an entirely new set of carriages is being brought into usage from next year. The gap from 1977 until 1979 is that the network closed for an extensive modernisation and restoration, but there was talk at the time that it might not reopen due to falling demand.

    This is a fantastic video of the period just before the closure in 1977 and it’s fair to say that it looks in a right old state….

    The interior of the carriages, which felt comfortable enough to me. There’s the benefit that although it can get busy it’s unlikely that anyone will wait long for a seat given that no passenger is likely remain on for more than a few stops (unless they’re just sitting there going around and around which I assume must happen).

    I paid £4.20 for an all-day adult ticket which allows unlimited use for the day, which isn’t an unreasonable price. It’s a shame that the network has never been expanded, but that does mean its retained its historic feel. The system is though easy to use, everything seems clean and the service is regular with trains every few minutes.

  • Glasgow – Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

    Glasgow – Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

    Today’s expedition was to Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, which has now reopened and has free admission but requires advance bookings. I thought it looked very quiet at 10.00 when it opened, but a friendly security guard politely told me that I was standing at the back of the building. There’s a myth that the architect killed himself when he discovered that the building was built back to front and although that’s untrue, it’s all muddled up as far as I was concerned. The security guard said that he expected to send many more visitors to the correct entrance as if to reassure me that I’m not an idiot.

    A visit here is likely to take at least two hours, and I was there for longer. I’ll pull some particularly interesting exhibits (or what I call particularly interesting) out in separate posts. What remains below are some random exhibits that I felt the need to take photos of…..

    Located in the main hall, this is the Kelvingrove Organ which was built by TC Lewis & Co in 1901 and it’s still in its original working condition. Apparently there are 48 speaking stops (I don’t know what they are, I’m not very musical) and 2,889 pipes.

    An elephant. I suspect my commentary here isn’t overly useful, but this is the West Court and until 1977 it was filled with ship models. These are now located at the Riverside Museum which I visited yesterday, and between 1980 and 2003 the area was filled with arms and armour. Now it has a plane, elephant and numerous other dead animals.

    I like random exhibits such as this, which is a section of railing from a former public toilet located on London Road.

    A Stagonolepis, which lived in this area around 220 million years ago.

    The heads in East Court are just a little, er, scary…..

    This is ‘Woman in Oriental Dress’ painted by Henri Matisse, apparently with an attempt to show sensuality.

    The ‘Portrait of Madame Valentine Fray’ painted by Auguste Renoir, another artwork which shows the quality and depth of the collections that are held here.

    The ‘Ostre Anlaeg Park’ which is located in Copenhagen, painted by Paul Gauguin.

    Another one of the art galleries, and it’s fair to say that these were less popular in terms of visitor numbers than the displays of dead animals.

    I have no words.

    The main hall is a grand affair and there’s plenty of space for the performances which take place here.

    They don’t look like very comfortable stools.

    The stretched out skin of a green anaconda and I can’t think of anything less than I’d want on my wall. Having written that, I suppose one that was alive would be worse laid out in my flat…..

    Back to West Court, with a Spitfire being the highlight of the collection here. It’s safer here, for a few years it was displayed outside RAF Leuchars in Fife, open to the elements.

    The ‘Coronation of the Blessed Virgin’ by the Arts and Craft designer Harry Clarke (1889-1931) who produced this in 1923.

    I can’t remember what these are called, but Richard will know as he’s making one in his front room. I don’t think it’s as nice as this one though.

    The corridors of history…..

    Another packed gallery full of people.

    I don’t doubt the quality of this artwork, as it’s by Paul Cezanne who has a slightly better reputation than I do for painting, but I wonder who originally bought it. The gallery notes that “he may have painted this on a rainy day when he couldn’t get out into the countryside”. I suspect there’s more than a little guesswork there with that statement…..

    This is ‘Still Life’ by Auguste Renoir, painted in 1908.

    I knew that there were rattlesnakes in Glasgow…..

    A happy bear.

    And, finally for this set of photos, the museum’s giraffe.

    As for this gallery and museum, I thought that it was really quite impressive and there was plenty to see. I liked that there was no admission charge to get in and the whole advance ticket purchase process was easy to understand and worked out well. There is currently a limit of 1,000 people in the building, although at a best guess there weren’t that many inside when I was there. The staff at the entrance were friendly, although there were nearly no staff in the galleries themselves and I didn’t see any actually engaging with visitors. The one-way system seem to cause more confusion than benefit, causing visitors to cluster together rather than just walk where they wanted (and it was widely ignored anyway by the more rebellious visitors). There’s definitely enough to see to justify a repeat visit should I ever be in the area again.

  • Glasgow – Taphouse Bar and Kitchen

    Glasgow – Taphouse Bar and Kitchen

    As I walking back to the city centre from Kelvingrove Gallery and Museum, I thought I’d pop in the Taphouse Bar and Kitchen for lunch.

    There was a friendly staff member who told me when I entered that there was no food currently being served, so my initial food plan failed.

    It wasn’t a particularly busy location (there were no customers inside other than me), but it was clean and comfortable, although perhaps a little bit more formulaic than on-trend. It’s been open for a couple of years now and there’s an outside seating area which is where the only other customers were sitting.

    The draft beer selection was inadequate, the best I could really find was Blue Moon and I don’t really consider that as a craft beer, although views will differ on that matter and it’s more likely to be viewed as such in the United States. It tasted slightly odd as well, although not unpleasant, I couldn’t really establish why that was. Perhaps it’s just better drunk on the beach in California….. There were a few more cans available to widen the options, but the choice verged more towards generic rather than interesting.

    I can’t find fault that the bar wasn’t serving food, as that could be for any number of reasons and I was told immediately so wasn’t inconvenienced. But, I couldn’t find anything else here that made a visit appealing and putting “taphouse” as the name of a venue does perhaps bring with it an obligation to do more with beer. I did look back on their Untappd record to see if there are anything in the past that was more innovative, but there’s very little. It makes it worse when they themselves claim “look forward to a quality selection of the finest craft ales”.

    Overall, a welcoming environment, but for me at least a concept not well implemented despite the on-trend and exciting area in which they’re based. They’d perhaps be better to rebrand as more of a restaurant with some craft beer options, especially as the food menu seems to be well reviewed.

  • Glasgow – Bier Halle

    Glasgow – Bier Halle

    The Bier Halle is something of a local institution having been in this central Glasgow location for a couple of decades.

    There was a friendly welcome offered by a staff member when I went downstairs and he mentioned that there was a table left outside if I wanted that. I didn’t, I had no intentions of sitting outside in the extreme heat that Glasgow is currently enduring. It’s fair to say that most other customers were perfectly content to frazzle, but I left them to it. Judging from the amount of beer and food being taken up the stairs, it remained busy up on the sun kissed pavements of Glasgow.

    Slightly dark I accept, but clean and the environment was comfortable. Incidentally, there is no phone signal downstairs, but the staff member mentioned that when I entered so that I could have chance to connect to the wi-fi. The bar is using an app which it requires customers to order from and this worked well, with my drink being brought over promptly.

    The beer list wasn’t enormous and there’s perhaps too much of a concentration of international beers at the expense of German beers, which I thought was the theme of the bar. Anyway, this was the Furstenberg lager which was entirely adequate and nicely cool and refreshing. The food was that being served looked quite tempting, but I had a Brewdog Wings Wednesday go to shortly afterwards, so I didn’t want to overdo it.

    I can imagine that this location gets busy on weekend evenings during winter, I’m sure that it’s very homely. Perhaps not as on-trend it once was, but still clearly popular enough to keep on trading for so long. It’s also reminded me that I fancy another little trip to Germany……

  • Glasgow – Brewdog Merchant City

    Glasgow – Brewdog Merchant City

    I’m slowly trying to go to every Brewdog in the UK and this is the chain’s city centre location in Glasgow. I’ve never quite understood the Doghouse branding that Brewdog have, but this was what the pub was called between 2015 and 2018, before reverting to the current external signage.

    I was welcomed by a friendly team member who gave me this table and it seems that all sole diners were put in this row of table seating. I thought it was quite a decent location, I could see what was going on throughout the bar in case of any exciting drama. Unfortunately, nothing dramatic happened, but it’s good to be ready and in a prime location.

    The beer fridge and bar, all standard Brewdog layout.

    These windows at the rear retract fully to open up to the outside and they were opened just before I left (I was leaving anyway, I didn’t stomp off because they opened up the windows).

    I had a look through the beer list and was a little perturbed to see that I had already tried nearly everything on the draught (I still don’t know whether it’s better to use draft or draught, so I alternative between them a bit) beer selection. This suggested to me that either I’m visiting too many Brewdogs or they’re not rotating their beers enough. Rather than take any blame myself, I decided they were at fault.

    The above beer is the Cosmic Crush Raspberry by Overworks, which is Brewdog’s own brewery. I didn’t order a half (it was expensive, so I limited myself to a third), this was another mispour from Brewdog and I liked how the engaging staff member apologised and said if it was a problem then I could always leave some. It absolutely wasn’t a problem, and that’s about the eighth mispour in a Brewdog that I’ve had. This pleases me greatly. Refreshing and suitably sour, but there was a slight chemical feel to the aftertaste rather than a subtle flavour of raspberries, but still a very decent beer.

    I also ordered a Vagabond, which is Brewdog’s gluten free beer that I don’t think I’ve had (or I’ve forgotten if I have) and this was perfectly adequate, but with nothing remarkable about it.

    And I ordered Wings Wednesdays, with no shortage of chicken wings despite the national delivery problem which is apparently even impacting Greggs. The staff here were the most pro-active in offering extra rounds of the wings that I’ve experienced in a Brewdog, always being friendly and helpful as well. I should probably though switch to a different food order in future, the wings have quite a strong sauce which isn’t ideal on the throat…. For anyone interested (goodness knows who), the chicken wings tasted fine, but weren’t as crispy as I’ve had elsewhere, as if they’ve had them sitting in the sauce for some time. I didn’t let it bother me though and merrily ate them anyway. Incidentally, the menu here has a strong focus on vegan and vegetarian dishes, I will likely try those again as they’ve been excellent when I’ve had them before.

    The reviews of the bar are positive, although there’s one furious customer claiming that they were ill after their visit and it must be Brewdog’s fault. It probably wasn’t, but some people seem entirely content to make these accusations. Anyway, I liked the reply to the review which I assume was a complaint about the time someone had to wait:

    “First son was born before I got served”

    The reply from Brewdog was:

    “Congratulations!”.

    OK, it might not be comedy gold, but I liked it. I also liked that Brewdog had little interest in tolerating a customer who abused their staff with the “unbelievable snowflakes for bar staff” in a review. I always feel a little sorry for the bar staff when I read reviews like that, but there we go….

    All told, I had a very positive impression about this Brewdog (although, to be fair, I like nearly all of them) given the clean environment, the friendly staff and the food and drink options. All rather lovely.

  • Glasgow – Sir John Moore Pub

    Glasgow – Sir John Moore Pub

    And another JD Wetherspoon outlet, which I visited on my pursuit to go to as many Good Beer Guide listed pubs in Glasgow (I say Glasgow, but my efforts are national….) as I had time for. This one is in an unexceptional building which was formerly a row of shops. It’s named after Sir John Moore (obviously I suppose….) who was a locally born British army general. He lived between 1761 and 1809, serving in the military from 1776 until he was killed in action. A monument was erected in George Square in 1811 to commemorate his life, the first to be put there.

    The interior, which is functional but there’s nothing overly exciting here, it’s not a grand conversion of a bank like some of their other pubs in the city.

    The beers were fine, the first photo is of the Pentland IPA from Stewart Brewing and the second photo is of the Seven Giraffes from Williams Brothers Brewing Co. Both beers were well-kept and at the appropriate temperature and all that, but the Seven Giraffes was quite bland and unexciting. The Kettle crisps were delicious.

    Service was polite enough and the environment felt comfortable and safe. There was a choice from seven different ales during my visit, with nothing standing out to be exceptional, but at least there was a choice. Another failure though in providing any range of beer styles, the beers were all quite samey and there were no dark options.

    I had a little look at the reviews of the pub and noted one angry customer complain about the staff and note “I only spoke to 3 staff but all had attitude issues”. I don’t know how some customers manage this, I’d struggle to find three staff in a year who I’d say had anywhere near attitude issues, let alone three in one pub in one visit. Actually, I do have a clue what the problem might be here…..

    And another review that noted:

    “Absolute shambles standing at the bar for 15 minutes waving a tenner around at a bar with no more than 1 layer of people being served. Staff should use their eyes! Pointed this out to be told you’ll be served when someone is available… well the 5 of you serving were available several times and the only reason I hadn’t been was your staffs poor bartending.”

    I’d be willing to bet that the staff had used their eyes and had managed to ignore the customer that was waving their notes about. The amount of customers that I’ve seen over the years sticking their notes out towards bar staff as they walk down the bar, or bang coins on the counter as if that will help…..

    Anyway, I digress. There was nothing particularly wrong with this pub and the prices were inevitably cheap and affordable as it’s operated by JD Wetherspoon. I can’t think of anything overly exciting to note about the place and it seems to have got in the Good Beer Guide for the valid reason that they have a lot of well-kept beers.

  • Glasgow – ibis Styles Glasgow Centre George Square

    Glasgow – ibis Styles Glasgow Centre George Square

    I have to begin by mentioning that I’m still having problems with Accor, so it is probably best for me to recommend that people book using a third party agent.

    With that little bit of negativity out of the way, I have to say that this hotel in Glasgow seems to be run to an incredibly high standard. I don’t know who the manager here is, but I’d suggest that they’re doing a great job and this is the best Accor visit since my little trip to Whitechapel Ibis Budget a few months ago.

    This messaging works for me, I love the slight irreverence. The welcome at the reception was genuine and authentic, with the staff member being engaging and helpful. Nothing felt scripted, it just seemed to be a personable greeting, so my first impressions were very positive.

    One of the worst hotels that I’ve visited was Ibis Styles Seven Kings, which I won’t whinge about again here. This hotel though nailed it though for me, the decor was modern, on-trend, bright, functional and everything was spotlessly clean. There was a desk, chair, sofa and thought had been put into the design elements here. I like the nod towards the cone statue as well, given that it’s just over the road.

    It’s hard to say this without sounding entitled, but I like to receive little gifts like this to acknowledge that I seem to spend half the year in Accor hotels. I’m a fan of Irn-Bru and Tunnocks, so this was a lovely welcome for me, something really positive that didn’t cost the hotel much. This is a time to acknowledge the rather lovely carpet in the room as well.

    It’s not possible to walk along the balcony, but I liked it being there.

    I was on the top floor, so there were some decent views over Glasgow. As a bonus, there was air conditioning in the room and it worked perfectly at nicely chilling the room as I wanted (it’s too hot in Glasgow at the moment…).

    I don’t know who wrote this, but they’re a good communicator. This fits entirely with the Ibis Styles brand, all nicely done again.

    I very much like the local nod towards Tunnock’s.

    They’ve even been creative with the carpet design, so someone has given massive thought to the decor at every customer touchpoint throughout the hotel. If I’m being honest, the lift arrangement wasn’t ideal, as they seemed to struggle with the number of customers. However, it didn’t reach the point of being annoying and guests seemed to be very cheery about everything, so all was well.

    Brave to do this so that it doesn’t look like graffiti, but they’ve pulled it off. It’s a better look in the lift than in the photo to be fair, but I was trying to avoid my reflection being in the photo.

    The restaurant and bar area, all spotlessly clean again.

    And my free welcome drink. I’m going to credit this Ibis Styles with making an effort to provide a range of beers and they had around six, although draft options were off due to a gas supply issue that was outside of their control. Entirely acceptable to me, as being offered a choice of Corona or Budweiser isn’t ideal, although I accept there are greater things in the world to worry about.

    I experienced no problems with this hotel at all, with no noise issues either internally or externally. I liked that they have WhatsApp if I needed to contact them and the staff were so friendly that this was the sort of hotel that I’m fairly confident would have fixed any issues if I had them. I tried to think of some things that the hotel could improve on, but there really aren’t any. The desk in the room looked a bit like it would collapse if someone jumped on it, a sign not of any problem with the hotel, but just how I couldn’t find any fault.

    The reviews of the hotel are generally very positive, not that this surprises me in the slightest. I’ve had a look at some of the negative reviews, and some seem to be a little aspirational, such as the guest who was unhappy that the hotel reception didn’t deliver them milk to the room when they phoned. Another negative review said simply “No fridges…what hotel has no fridges and no netflix”, although the answer to that is actually most of them.

    As a hotel, this is brilliant and I hope to come back here. All very nicely done. This is absolutely the reason that I like Accor hotels and why Ibis Styles used to be my favourable brand within the chain.

  • Glasgow – Drum and Monkey Pub

    Glasgow – Drum and Monkey Pub

    After a lovely meal and selection of beers in Shilling Brewing Company, I started to work through the list of Good Beer Guide pubs and came to the Drum and Monkey. I realised when I arrived that it was run by Nicholson’s (part of Mitchells & Butlers), who have a consistent ability to deliver a poor range of beers, so my expectations were low. The interior was though interesting, it’s another former bank that has been converted into a pub, so my hopes were raised a little.

    As I wasn’t welcomed into the pub, I just went to sit down. I then discovered that the pub’s entire draught beer selection was Peroni, Tennent’s and Carling. No real ale, no craft beer on tap, just generic rubbish. They did have some craft beer options in cans, which I’ll credit them with, but they were overpriced and there was nothing of any real interest that couldn’t be picked up at Tesco.

    I walked out again without ordering anything. Why this pub is in the Good Beer Guide I have no idea, but perhaps it’s usually better in terms of beer options and the welcome from staff.