The Renfield Bar, Glasgow

On my way into Renfield Bar on a recent Monday late afternoon I ended up in a conversation with two drunken locals who were smoking on the street by the entrance. They were very amusing and a little more friendly than the other locals in the pub, who were equally pissed but were keeping themselves to themselves. Standard keg and Birra Moretti were available, so I ended up with a pint of Tennents, just like everyone else. I sat at one of the tables up the left wall that run either side of a stone fireplace while I noted more seating across the front windows and the counter that runs up the right. In the rear are some high tables next to a dartboard and the two televisions were airing the Chase. There’s not a lot to this small bar, but it’s how I always imagined a Glasgow bar to be before I first visited a few years ago.

It was fairly quiet mid-afternoon when I called in. No real ale, of course, but half a dozen malts gave me the option of a Highland Park. This feels like a traditional bar, with stained wood panelling on the walls and bar, a pot-bellied stove in a rough chimney breast, and modern floorboards. An eclectic music track was playing, but it was outdone in eccentricity by the display of mostly random pictures on the walls. A couple of reproduction oils of racehorses were the only sign of consistency. Others varied from a 19th admonition to pay up in the pub, with the slogan, "pay today, trust tomorrow", to a Daily Sketch cartoon from 1941 illustrating how stout British seasiders would deceive the invader by having their deck chairs and candyfloss stalls propped up by underwater pillars, while the German troops plunged to their doom beneath the waves. If only it was that easy.

Facebook page of The Renfield Bar - m.facebook.com

Facebook page of The Renfield Bar - m.facebook.com