The Laurieston Bar

Selected by

Elizabeth McCrone, Director of Heritage, Historic Environment Scotland

Graduating from St Andrews University with an MA in History of Art, then moving to Historic Environment Scotland as head of Listing and Designated Buildings, Elizabeth is responsible for overseeing the management of the list of buildings of special or historic interest and is author of publications on Scottish architecture.
Architecture

Category C listed

58 Bridge St, Glasgow G5 9HU

The Laurieston is a remarkable example of a near-complete 1960s bar. The exterior is unpretentious but the lettering above the door has a 60s theme. Internally the public bar has a timber-boarded, elongated oval bar counter topped with Formica. Above the bar is a well preserved suspended canopy with typical hidden lights. Even the old McGee’s hot pie heater has survived. The gantry has concealed neon lights – another period theme.

One of the reasons the pub had survived with the 1960’s theme intact is that the pub remained in the same family from the late 1930s through to the 1970s. Since 1982 it has been in the hands of John and James Clancy. John’s son, Joseph, works in the bar.

Recently declared a category-C listed pub, the décor has not changed since, with an island bar spanning both the public bar and the Lounge (hosting random musical events), red Formica tables and curtains. Here, the walls are plastered with mementos of past decades: Old Glasgow pics, regulars down the years, newspaper cuttings, but also… obituaries and fine art from friends. There is a free old school jukebox and a custom-made “indoor” smoking area including TV, armchair, and radio with a tape deck. All these really convey a sense of history.
Interesting Facts

This small, friendly pub has one of the most remarkable interiors in the UK. It is the most intact example of pub building (in fact remodelling) from about 1960 and is, thus, as important as a great Victorian pub – only very much rarer. The Laurieston featured in the film ‘Young Adam’ starring Ewan McGregor in 2003.
Resources

Watch co-owner John Clancy talking about the Laurieston Bar. > View video

www..oldglasgowpubs.co.uk

The Laurieston Bar © Joseph Clancy

As soon as I stepped through the door of the Laurieston Bar in Glasgow in 2007 I knew it was something special. I’d left the September sunshine and the busy road behind and was now firmly back in the 1960s. There’s something indefinable about the Laurieston, from the way the light filters in through the windows, to the immediate feeling of established hospitality and the sense that everything is just as it should be.

Inside the Laurieston Bar © that petrol emotion

I’d been past the Laurieston many times and was intrigued by the mosaic-like distinctive black and white tiling and its unusual truncated form at the end of a row of tall tenements. I was working on a project looking at public houses to see if they could become listed buildings and The Laurieston was one I was investigating. There are two bars, the public bar to the left and the lounge bar to the right, both served by a previous island bar which was timber clad as part of the 1960s remodelling of this earlier public house. The public bar sings with authenticity. There is the 1960s red font proclaiming ‘BAR’ on the door, the small fixed red formica tables and the red vinyl-covered armchairs. The pie warmer on the bar counter completes the vintage atmosphere. Following my visit it became a listed building in recognition of its 1960s character. The past ninety years have given us much to celebrate and the Laurieston Bar is an unexpected gem. And if it looks familiar to you that’s because you’ve probably seen it take a starring role in many films and television programmes.

Inside the Laurieston Bar © Joseph Clancy

It matters to me because it’s not necessarily what people expect a listed to be. Celebrated buildings shouldn’t just be about grandiose designs and expensive materials.

And it’s also a part of its community, it’s used every day. Buildings must be about people because without people they are meaningless and the Laurieston is most definitely about people. Once entered, never forgotten.

“Things have gotten all modernised. There’s a different feeling now. You go into pubs now and there’s television, radio, bands playing and groups singing… instead of just having a pub.”
John Clancy, The Scotsman

“Things have gotten all modernised. There’s a different feeling now. You go into pubs now and there’s television, radio, bands playing and groups singing… instead of just having a pub.”

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