The Wildhearts

I am off to a gig in Glasgow at Barrowlands soon so I am looking to make a weekend off it up there.

I was wondering if anyone can give me the lowdown on rock pubs and clubs in the city.

Also any info on cheapo central hotels would be useful.

Thanks

I'm doing the same thing in November, and I found that the Euro Hostel was the cheapest thing available. Depends quite how much you want to slum it, though..

Always worth checking whether Travelodge have £15 rooms, too.

From what i've read on other sites Euro Hostel is indeed the best option for the city centre.

Not sure about rock clubs apart from the Cathouse in Union Street...

Rock pubs i know about are the Solid Rock in Hope Street,Nice n Sleazys in Sauchiehall Street and Rufus T Firefly at the other end of Hope St.

Solid Rock is the closest of the 3 to Barrowland and is close to Euro Hostel i think.

Barrowland is in Gallowgate but the pubs can be a bit scary out that way...unless you learn some Irish Rebel Songs.

http://www.nightb4.com/maps/v,670.html

DangerousBeans wrote:Barrowland is in Gallowgate but the pubs can be a bit scary out that way...unless you learn some Irish Rebel Songs.

Sound advice indeed! Be very careful about going into any pubs around The Barrowlands....especially if you are English.

yes the best pubs for rock music is the Solid Rock, Catwalk, and Ruffus Ts. Also 13th note is not too far from the Barrowlands well worth a drink, its on king street. Also have a look in Crow Bar on hope street one of the newer rock pubs.

Thanks for the sound advice, I will try not to look too English - the trouble comes when I have had a beer as I will talk to anyone that will listen.

I have always heard these rumours that the Scots are not keen on the English but never knew it was bad enough to get a slap over. At the end of the day its not my fault it was where I was born. I did go up to Edinburgh and didn't have to many problems although it was during the World cup so there were a lot of Scots wearing Trinidad and Tobago tops during the game vs England.

DAZ wrote:Thanks for the sound advice, I will try not to look too English - the trouble comes when I have had a beer as I will talk to anyone that will listen.

I have always heard these rumours that the Scots are not keen on the English but never knew it was bad enough to get a slap over. At the end of the day its not my fault it was where I was born. I did go up to Edinburgh and didn't have to many problems although it was during the World cup so there were a lot of Scots wearing Trinidad and Tobago tops during the game vs England.

Dont worry bout it. There are many local Scots that wont go into certain bars arouind that area.....I'm sure you're aware of the the Rangers / Celtic "friendly rivalry". In general, I'd say that Glasgow is a very friendly and welcoming city. If a bar looks to have any connections with Ireland (and I love Ireland and the people there), just pass it by. The bars mentioned above will be fine. There's a bar at the top corner of St Enoch car park...we went there prior to seeing Ginger one time. Great bar, and no worries.

Daz as Keith said its just the area around Barrowland that isn't very good .For example i've been into Bairds which is the closest one to Barrowlands and had no trouble whatsoever.It's a big irish pub and is owned by relatives of one of the guys in Dog Eat Dog..remember them?Was full of gig folk when i went in.

However you've got Hoops Bar and Bar 68 you're taking your life in your hands but i would be as well.As would anyone of a non plastic irish persuasion.
Then we have the Saracens Head....if anyones heard Billy Connollys "The Crucifixion" thats the pub mentioned in it.Still has spitoons i believe.

It's like anywhere else....you wouldn't send a tourist to MossSide in Manchester for example.Gallowgate is just along from a few bad areas and the pubs reflect that.

Plenty of great pubs even 500 yards away.Apart from the rock pubs you have the Crystal Palace,Goose on Union Street,Horseshoe Bar and a bit further afield the Iron Horse,Lauders and Revolution.Everyone is welcome in all of these pubs

Then if you like expensive trendy places theres always Merchant City...loads of them in there.

Easiest way to put it...if a pub in Glasgow is dodgy...you know by looking at it.As the bad ones are total shiteholes.

You will love Glasgow..believe me and Barrowland is still my favourite music venue ever.

Keith Richard wrote:In general, I'd say that Glasgow is a very friendly and welcoming city.

Agreed,
Been there several times, unfortunately, with the ex mentioned in the t-shirts thread!!!

Only bad experience I had was nearly not getting out of the toilets in Fat Boabs on St Enoch's Square, otherwise, great city, welcoming people, and I never experienced any anti- Englishness in any of the bars or shops I visited.

Best advice I can give, if you look like you're expecting trouble, law of averages says you'd probably find it, so basically, don't drop your guard, but be aware.

I was in the "barras" area before Gig on the Green a few years ago. We were under the impression that Scotland was 24 hour drinking - not so, ouldn't get a drink anywhere before 12 opening time.

That is before I asked a landlord if i could go in for a drink as he was emptying the bins. Got in there and there was half a dozen locals having an early start.

Had a great hour or two, they loved my banter!!!! Told me not to go back after the gig tho as they knew I'd be pissed (more) and sinigng footy songs hahahaha - who, me????

Got a bit worried when i knew my bro in law was waiting outside for opening time with blue (Rangers?) hair and union jack tattoo.

Col wrote:Got a bit worried when i knew my bro in law was waiting outside for opening time with blue (Rangers?) hair and union jack tattoo.

For fuck's sake, beware...fly your musical motifs with pride, they wont get you into trouble, but dont wear either blue or green as will be associated with football!!

Yeah, he quickly explained his hair was blue as per Flea of RHCP. The union jack stayed firmly covered up!!!

Keith Richard wrote:For fuck's sake, beware...fly your musical motifs with pride, they wont get you into trouble, but dont wear either blue or green as will be associated with football!!

I know that was a serious post Keith, but, I was going to say, I never had any trouble when I wore my Newcastle shirt during the daytime in Glasgow. I'd never be tempted to wear it at night though!!!
I suppose I got away with it because it wasn't related to either celtic or rangers

Some of you may not confess to being experts on Glasgow but no one has mentioned Nice'n'Sleazy's or King Tuts!!!!

Sleazy's is up at the Charing Cross end of Sauchiehall St. and Tut's in on St. Vincent St. couple of streets down (just down the hill and left from Blythswood Square.

Both places are famed for thier Jukebox's. Plus there're always bands playing downstairs and upstairs respectively.

And, yeah, I'm a Celtic supporter and there're bars in the Gallowgate I wouldn't even go in!!!! But most other places are fine in the city centre. Although the Rangers pubs can be a little less obvious than the Celtic ones. But honestly, I've drank with Rangers fans in Rangers bars and not had any hassle. You just need to be sensible, don't run into Dr. Browns (or whatever it's called now) and shout "fuck the Queen" and you'll be fine!!!!

Great city to go drinking!!!!!!!

I mentioned sleazys further up but it's a bit far away if you're going to Barrowlands.
However it is a fantastic pub.

As for football colours..yeah you can wear almost any and some of the locals will have a great discussion with you about it but if you cross the green or blue divide in the wrong place you're in bother.

I remember coming back from the Rangers v Ayr CIS Cup Final game(i'm an Ayr fan btw) and our buses and the Rangers buses left Hampden by the same route.
We were going down by The Brazen Head and we could see the rangers buses getting attacked in front of us with Irish tricolours all over the place.We're all thinking...oh f**k here we go...and when the Ayr buses went past the baying mob stopped and applauded us by and proceeded to get fired in to the Rangers buses behind us.