Tennents, Hillhead, Glasgow

This large, iconic street corner pub was packed on a freezing cold Tuesday night with a really assorted crowd and seems to be something of an institution amongst the local community. The pub is pretty spectacular, boasting an impressive peninsula servery which services a single open plan room which was obviously once sub-divided into a series of smaller rooms but has since been knocked through. The servery has a lovely, long curved counter and grand bar back with an integral clock and a legend that reads "Glasgow's Finest Ale House". Large windows with obscured lower halves along two sides of the room allow plenty of light in, giving you ample opportunity to inspect the bar in detail. Modern floorboards and a cream and grey colour scheme contrast with the large amount of dark wood throughout the pub, creating quite a nice balance between modern and traditional. Comfy banquettes run around the edge of the room, supported by some decent looking chairs, and are broken up by a few nice etched glass partitioning screens. The side entrance has a lovely stained glass porch which is another attractive traditional feature and makes up for modern intrusions such as the TV screens showing muted Sky Sports News and a war documentary. A small side room can be found by following a corridor past the gents toilets and here there are a few more seats, mainly in the form of banquettes in what is apparently referred to as the "Wee T" area. Reasonably priced food was available and I noticed a few folk were enjoying a bite to eat but on the whole this felt like more of a drinkers pub to me. Such credentials were enhanced by the ale range which comprised Fullers London Pride, Caledonian Deuchars IPA and 80/-, Draught Bass, Marstons Pedigree, Harviestouns Bitter and Twisted, Williams Bros Birds & Bees, Sharps Doom Bar, St Austell Tribute, Taylor Landlord and Inveralmond Lia Fail with one final handpull out of action. Perhaps a little mainstream for some tastes, but that's not a bad range at all and my Birds & Bees was very drinkable and didn't last very long in the glass. The staff seemed very friendly and I thought there was a rocking atmosphere for a fairly bog-standard mid-week evening. I liked this place and thought it had a bit of a spark to it that some of the other pubs in the city centre and this part of town seemed to lack. The beer seems to be kept in good shape, the locals are friendly and there is plenty here to explore which means the place will reward repeat visits. Definitely worth a look if you happen to be in the area and perhaps worthy of a session if you can get past the fairly mainstream ale range.

We utilised Tennants Bar a couple of times during our trip to Glasgow. Yes it’s a fairly large open plan drinking den, but appeared to be always well used and there was an interesting crowd generating a lively atmosphere for our visits. As others have mentioned, one of the Tennannts Bar main attraction is the number of real ales on offer. For our visits all twelve of the pumps were in operation. But disappointingly for a Londoner, with the exception of the 80/- and the Bitter and Twisted on the permanent list the rest were options ubiquitous in the Smoke. And the three guests of Adnams Broadside, Woodfordes Champions and Wadworth 6X unfortunately don’t set the pulse rating for someone south of Watford Gap. But the 80/- and the Bitter and Twisted were on good form and I can think of a lot of worse places to drink them.

Bit of a let down it was talked up on the open top bus the last pub to ban women in until the 1972 12 hand pulls had a pint of reverend James bit warm. Was told on the bus its had a woman manager ever since it lifted the ban. The open top buses are good for pub crawls and getting your bearings of cites they usually take about an hour and you can hop of and on all day In Glasgow like Edinburgh your ticket last for two days

Tennents is very much pub of big reputation and despite being a fair trek from the City Centre, is generally one of the first names on the list for beer tourists. The pub itself I found a little disappointing visually, not much more than a large cavernous room with high ceilings propped up by slender columns, plain décor and little that really catches the eye and even the random, mostly unannotated, pictures and portraits were all seemingly unconnected or relevant to the area. The multiple TV’s (showing football on my visit) give the place more of a sports bar ambience than a traditional ale house and it all felt very male dominated so learning that women were banned here until 1972 didn’t really come as a shock! There is also a basement bar which I didn’t visit. The main reason for a visit is obviously the ales and it certainly doesn’t disappoint on that front with a selection that included Fullers IPA, Caldonian Deuchars, Harviestoun Bitter & Twsted, Moorhouse Honey, Brewsters Roll In The Hay, Liberation IPA, TSA Double Expresso, Harviestoun Natural Blond and Atlas Wayfarer IPA. There were another 3 pumps unused. There was also a basic food menu with burgers and pizzas around £5/£6 with various special deals advertised. The pub was busy but comfortable and service was good. Although the beers were excellent, I can’t help feeling being underwhelmed by the the general feel of the place and whilst I’m glad I went, I’m not sure I would make a big effort to revisit unless there was something else nearby to warrant the effort.