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05-05-2017, 15:47
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https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7VLJg7SqjHA/WQyEtSljioI/AAAAAAAAGyE/iM8kC2_5GrkLtW1rCcB-fQjom1gD1UrqgCLcB/s320/macgregors-pie-ale-howff.jpg (https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7VLJg7SqjHA/WQyEtSljioI/AAAAAAAAGyE/iM8kC2_5GrkLtW1rCcB-fQjom1gD1UrqgCLcB/s1600/macgregors-pie-ale-howff.jpg)
It is a decent 20 minutes walk from the excellent Laurieston Bar (see below) to Macgregors Pie and Ale Howff, the next recommendation from@robsterowski for my recent trip to Glasgow. The walk is very relaxing, taking you as it does back over the river, through a little of the main shopping area and then into one of the oldest parts of Glasgow, the Trongate - which is well worth a look from anyone - and hence into High St and after a wrong turn, into Blackfriars St. The pub itself impresses from the outside, but inside it is a bit poky and gloomy. Still I have nothing against poky and gloomy, as that could easily describe my beloved local and I like that rather a lot.

Inside three people were at the end of the bar chatting noisily to the barman, who took his time to disengage and come over. I ordered a pint of Inveralmond Ossian from the four, or was it five handpumps and noted with approval that the barman was one handedly splashing beer from the pump into a glass balanced on the drip tray. "Good" I thought "he's clearing the line of old beer as nobody is drinking it." Mistake. He wasn't. This unappealing liquid was my (short measure) pint. Before I could summon up the words to say anything I was relieved of around four quid and the barman returned to his pals. The beer was insipid and I left a fair bit of it and slunk out, glancing back as I did so. Nobody noticed. I hadn't really existed for them in the first place, a fact I was all too aware of.

Reading various reviews of this place, I realise two things. Most of the praise is for the pies, which get a very good press and which, along with a choice of cask beer, is the main focus here and indeed inspires the pub's name. Now I realise fully that I may just have been unlucky and it was that quiet spot in the mid afternoon, but I shouldn't have felt so unwelcome. The barman wouldn't of course have known that he'd play host to a blogger on a day out, but then shouldn't he show just a little more interest in the only customer who was there other than his pals? Maybe talk me through the beer or something? I reckon so.

So, nothing much to see here at all. Most of all the "offer" was absent. I won't be back. Why would I? They didn't even ask me if I fancied a pie?

I won't say for a second "Don't go there". Hopefully it was just a one-off but it wasn't a remotely pleasant experience. Fortunately my next two recommendations from Rob were excellent. Three out of four isn't that bad.

The pies do look very good on various ebsites. I rather fancy a breakfast pie, or the haggis neeps and tatties one.

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