It's the Offer Stupid

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 websites. I rather fancy a breakfast pie, or the haggis neeps and tatties one.

Copper Dragon

By the time you read this, if read it on Saturday you do, I'll either be on my way to Skipton to Copper Dragon Brewery, or be there. Or have been there. Will Golden Pippin be as good as ever? Will I enjoy the Narrow Boat as much as last time? It's a while since I've been, but what a great pub I recall. There's a fantastic pie shop in Skipton too, by the canal, but as we are eating at the Copper Dragon Bistro, that might not be needed. It's nice to visit old haunts.

If you are good I might tell you how it went, or then again, I might not.

They are looking for a brewer I notice from their web site.

Proud of Pubs Bitter

I had a pint of this in the Drum and Monkey in Glasgow. This was the pub run by three, shall we say, less than customer focused young women I mentioned here. I think they were all still there. Two of them were definitely, but really, I can't be certain. They all still seemed a bit ...... well .......glum. The spectacularly ice covered founts were disappointingly ice free. The pub was still under performing if the customer numbers were anything to go by and I'd describe the atmosphere as "subdued".

And Morrisey Fox Proud of Pubs? Well a distinct Greene King IPA type sourish taste with a hint of Scottish Export within. Sweet and sour really. Fine if you like that sort of thing, but not exactly moreish.

I had a Scotch pie in a well known English bakery chain round the corner before boarding my train. My first Scotch pie for over 8 months. I queued humbly with the suits, but the pie was nothing special - not enough white pepper in the recipe - still it takes me back 30 odd years and that made it worthwhile.