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RogerB
06-08-2011, 07:50
After yesterday's Europa draw I have taken the plunge and will be off to bonnie Scotland, hopefully with a Hearts v Spurs ticket in my hand. Because of the fringe festival, hotels in Edinburgh are about £20,000 a night and that's just Travelodge so I have booked up 6 days in a cheap(er) Glasgow hotel (free headbutt before bed included in the price) and do a couple of days commuting to Edinburgh. If all goes well I will take in Hibs v St Mirren on the Saturday and Celtic v St Johnstone on the Sunday + I want to do Stirling Castle and Doune Castle, the legendary location for Monty Python & The Holy Grail where I will no doubt be galloping around banging coconuts together and talking in a ridulous French accent.

Needless to say, I would expect there may be a pub or 2 involved along the way. I am more familiar with Edinburgh than Glasgow at all (the photo's I posted of Glasgow pubs were all taken by my ex during her travels) and the pubs are looking a bit threadbare where reviews are concerned so if anyone knows of anywhere that looks remotely interesting, please let me know and I will endeavour to find it. Any tourist tips may also be of use.

gillhalfpint
06-08-2011, 08:48
Portcullis is a pub close to the entrance of Stirling Castle.Great views across to Wallace Monument, worth a visit.

GBG Glasgow pubs I've done are Babbity Bowster, Blackfriars, Bon Accord, Horseshoe bar, Sir John Moore, State bar, Station bar, Tennents, and Three Judges. One other to get to is the Brewpub Clockwork Orange.

RogerB
06-08-2011, 09:26
Thanks Gill. I've now filtered my way through most of central Glasgow and come with a pretty miserable list of just 18 that are worth a look (and half a dozen of them will be Wetherspoons breakfasts!). There are a couple in your suggestions I will add. I thought there would be more in Stirling - just the 4 for my list. I have 6 days to explore so I am hoping there are a few hidden surprises tucked away.

gillhalfpint
06-08-2011, 16:18
Others we went into in Stirling were: Birds and Bees, No 2 Baker Street, and Settle, but I cannot remember how good they were now. We were there 2008/9.

Another not far away was Mansfield Arms in Sauchie. It is the Devon Ales brewpub and still in GBG.

Al 10000
06-08-2011, 16:49
Hi Roger,

No 2 Baker Street is a decent pub but on our visit everbody in Stirling was in the pub,you might enjoy it more if it is a bit quieter,we visited two other pubs Claymores was a proper old pub but there were no real ales on here,the other pub we went in Quigleys Point is not really worth going in.

Regarding Glasgow when i went there with my wife we were struggeling to find any pubs in the city centre and the ones we did find were too posh for us,so we went to Partick which is a short train journey from central Glasgow,there were plenty of proper old pubs here and the Hayburn vaults looked really nice both outside and in but this was a while back so i car'nt comment on what beers were on here.
All the pubs in Partick were on the main road from the station.

ETA
08-08-2011, 05:54
Portcullis is a pub close to the entrance of Stirling Castle.Great views across to Wallace Monument, worth a visit.

GBG Glasgow pubs I've done are Babbity Bowster, Blackfriars, Bon Accord, Horseshoe bar, Sir John Moore, State bar, Station bar, Tennents, and Three Judges. One other to get to is the Brewpub Clockwork Orange.

Agreed - most of these are, or have been, GBG pubs. Everyone has their own faves, of course - mine are Babbity Bowster and Tennents.

RogerB
08-08-2011, 12:48
One other to get to is the Brewpub Clockwork Orange.

Didn't have that one on the list but just noticed that it is virtually next to Hamden Park where I was planning to visit the football museum and do a stadium tour (unfortunately Queens Park aren't at home that weekend or I would go to a game there) so looks like that pub will come in handy.

RogerB
12-08-2011, 13:10
Right, all booked up. Train to Glasgow on Wednesday. Have a ticket for Hearts v Spurs in Edinburgh on Thursday. Stirling & Doune Castles on Friday. Back to Edinburgh for Hibs v St Mirren on Saturday. Ibrox tour Sunday morning. Celtic v St Johnstone Sunday afternoon. Hamden Park tour Monday morning. Hopefully find Man Utd v Spurs on box Monday evening and then back home Tuesday. Any free time will of course be used to check out the 70'ish pubs I have now highlighted in the various cities. It's gonna be busy but someone's gotta do it!

hondo
16-08-2011, 09:49
"Parts of the city will be turned into charred ruins" :eek:any difference :whistle:

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2011/08/16/george-square-transformed-to-philadelphia-for-new-brad-bitt-hollywood-zombie-flick-86908-23348168/

RogerB
16-08-2011, 09:58
I detect a walk on part as a drunken English tourist coming up. :lol:

hondo
16-08-2011, 10:22
I detect a walk on part as a drunken English tourist coming up. :lol:
if you look impoverished enough Angelina Jolie will adopt you

RogerB
16-08-2011, 10:37
if you look impoverished enough Angelina Jolie will adopt you
That is preferable to Madonna and infinately better than finding out that Elton John and David Furnish are both your dad!

gillhalfpint
16-08-2011, 14:15
Funny you mentioning Elton John as the site we stay on in Old Windsor for the Egham fest this weekend is supposed to back onto his pad. The locals are objecting to plans to create a site for travellers, and his name cropped up when I googled the site. The notices in the village notice boards made interesting reading when we were there at Easter, so I will be looking for an update this time round. Couple of decent real ale pubs nearby too.

oldboots
16-08-2011, 15:25
I think we could have fun with this line;

"More than 7000 Glaswegians tried out for parts as zombies in an open casting session last month."

hondo
22-08-2011, 06:23
:whistle:oh when the saints go marching in:whistle:
618

RogerB
23-08-2011, 12:46
All done for the week - now on the train home. Haven't done a count up but I would estimate I have done about 50 pubs across the 3 cities and managed to get photos of about 100 (including the interiors of every one I went in) so someone in admin will be busy this week. Found quite a few new ones to be added as well. Several excellent beers to be found and plenty of PG virgin territory now covered.Managed to get all the intended football grounds for matches or tours although the Hearts, Hibs and Celtic fans will be glad I'm no longer around having watched 3 away wins including the collectors item of St Johnstone winning at Parkhead. The sound of 50,000 seriously pissed off Celtic fans is quite an experience.The movie set was an added bonus - they sealed off the streets so couldn't see much of the action but once they finished filming you could wander through the set and see the dozens of smashed up and overturned cars littering the streets. Good job I knew it was a movie - I thought Glasgow was always like this. I'm gonna have a lot of writing up and uploading to do this week!