The Doublet, Glasgow

In an area awash with modern craft beer bars, The Doublet is a reassuring proper old-school pub with a reasonable selection of ales from the Greene King brewery – it being a former Belhaven pub. You enter into a bare boarded main bar area with dark wood beams crossing the walls and ceiling. Hard banquette seating runs under the front windows and along the left hand wall with a few standard chairs in support, but much of the space remains empty, allowing ample room for vertical drinkers at peak times. A dark wood bar counter runs along the right hand side of the room with a multiple mirrored bar back and a massive selection of whiskies. The room has been decorated with a nice ‘Ales’ tiled plaque, a relief carving of a train, a few bits of contemporary art, whisky mirrors and many framed posters for the pub’s Hogmanay and May Day festivities. Elsewhere, I noticed a collection of ceramics, an old bedpan and a TV screen which remained off whilst some indeterminate instrumental music played in the background. A corridor to the rear is lined with interesting old black and white photographs and leads through to a larger rear lounge which was surprisingly busy compared to the tranquil front bar, meaning I didn’t get a chance to properly explore. There is plenty of additional seating in this room as well as a second bar counter with its own set of handpulls. Three hand pumps were in operation in the front bar, dispensing Greene King IPA and St Edmund and Morland Old Speckled Hen. My pint of the St Edmund was in pretty good shape, especially when compared to the poor quality stuff I’d encountered in some of the nearby craft beer joints, and the staff were friendly and helpful. I liked the feel of this place and thought it was a good alternative to the modern bars that seem to dominate the area. The pub has a long association with serving good quality ale and this visit affirmed that this isn’t a position they’ve relinquished.

The 2 reviews below still apply to this gem of a pub, which sits about 100 metres from the Kelvinbridge SPT Subway Station. This was one of the first pubs to have real ale in Glasgow so they should have plenty of practice in proper storing of the ales. I tried a few of the ales and each one was excellent. There is very limited, street parking mostly, pay at machine types and at the station for £5.00 per day.

This is one of Glasgow’s longest established real ale outlets and its mock Tudor décor still looks much the same as it did when I first drank here almost 35 years ago. The traditional style bar is on ground level and there is also a lounge up a half staircase at the back. The real ale taps are confined to the bar, while the lounge has Belhaven Best, Belhaven Black stout, Guinness, Blackthorn cider and Carling, Budweiser, Stella Artois and Cruzcampo lagers all on draught. With Belhaven Black at £3.35 a pint, there are cheaper places around, but not all are as pleasant as this. The clientele tends to be a mixture of students from the nearby University and more mature locals.