West Brewery Bar, Bridgeton, Glasgow

Set inside the stunning looking former Templeton Carpet Factory, just a short walk from the People’s Palace, this is a large, open plan brewery bar and restaurant, specialising in German style brews. The bar has a large, spacious interior with modern floorboards and a slightly industrial flavour to its decor. The servery runs down the right hand wall and has an extremely deep counter, which makes it surprisingly difficult to reach over and pay. A plain bar back is dominated by large blackboards which list the entire drinks selection. Opposite the bar there are two large pillars with mid-height shelves stacked full of malt sacks, whilst beyond these there is a baby grand piano and some tables and chairs alongside a series of venetian blind screened windows which obscure a small side room. This room is fully wood panelled and has ample additional seating but looks like it might mainly be used for private events. At the front, near the entrance, there is what appears to be a disused bar counter with lots of high stools along it, which a few people were propped up on. The rear part of the room is the restaurant area – a large, open space with a greeter’s lectern to the front, set tables and broadly similar decor to the bar area. It seems like quite a nice place for a meal, but I can’t say the decor or the large size of the room lends itself particularly well to the drinker – perhaps it works better when there is a decent crowd in. Music was playing quietly in the background and the pub makes quite a bit of fuss about being dog friendly, although signs inside explain that there is a very strict ‘three barks and you’re out’ rule in force. The brewery doesn’t produce cask ale, but instead focuses on replicating various German beer styles, so the West beers available on this visit included Heidi Weisse, St Mungo, Black GPA, Feierabend, Wild West, West 4 and Munich Red. I gave the latter a try and wasn’t really wowed by it, but then I suppose a cold keg beer wasn’t really what I was after having traipsed here through the snow. I like the fact that this brewery has made good use of part of one of Glasgow’s iconic buildings, but found it was a bit of a shame that they had gone for a fairly non-descript decor scheme which makes no mention of the building’s history – there’s not so much as a scrap of carpet in sight! The beer is something that may be viewed as somewhat niche, but I can imagine would work well on a summer’s day or during Oktoberfest celebrations. I’d probably be more likely to return for food rather than just for a drink, but it’s certainly something a bit different and perhaps worth a look as part of a wider crawl.

The West is a German style brewery situated in the northwest corner of the former Templeton carpet factory just off Glasgow Green. The place produces keg beers so there are plenty of German style beers, which can also be found not just here but throughout Glasgow. The bar top is cover in aluminium and is nearly 1 metre wide and would give the Horse Shoe Bar 19 Drury Street Glasgow G2 5AE a run for its money with its total length. There is a very large range of beers are available. There is seating outside for those rare hot summer days. The place also accommodates its own very large restaurant. Although advanced booking is required there are tours of the brewery on Fridays at 6pm, Saturdays at 12 & 3pm, and Sundays at 3pm. Check out https://www.westbeer.com/ for further information. There is parking available at the east side of the building and also in the inner courtyard of the building. The nearest train station “Bridgeton” is less than 200 meters away and is on line to Glasgow Central train station.