The Oriental Bar, Glasgow

The Oriental straddles the area between Argyle Streets party bars and the trendy Merchant city area but its unlike any of these places and in some ways is much better - Definitely a local pub, with a good selection of standard beers (Tennents, Guinness, Bellhaven, Peroni, McEwans , bottled selection, etc, etc) and spirits. I had a really nice pint of Bellhaven for £3;00 - Oriental is a pretty smallish tidy looking narrow (and very popular) bar with the bar area at the far side as you enter from one of the 2 entrance doors. The centre of the floor is given up to tables and chairs with built in chairs along the window area which can make it a bit cramped when busy and there's not a lot of standing area at the bar. A really nice local full of "characters" out for a laugh and a few folk that come in from the surrounding areas like East Kilbride, Hamilton with the odd bewildered tourists / office workers popping in as well - Friday, Saturday and Sunday are music days and they have a selection of entertainers providing some good tunes that pop in during the day so you can take your pick (its mostly Elvis type stuff but there is also a band that plays 50s music and older )and of course there's always the karaoke night. Not a place for a quiet pint Friday - Saturday after 3pm. Clientèle are really nice and age range is from 30 - 80 (yes there are at least 2 lovely folk in their 80s that have a great time) Bar staff are friendly also - toilets clean but tiny - no food (only a few bags of crisps but its not far food shops all over) the kinda place you'll love if you like busy party type pubs with middle of the road live music -worth a visit and to stay for the live band,