Old College Bar, High Street, Glasgow

Seemingly the oldest bar in glasgow, and the amount of bleach they use to clean the floor I fear what they are trying to hide 😉

Great Old mans pub, friendly service and customers. Toilets old but clean. Passes the test!

Where is it:- Old College Bar

[googlemaps http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=old+college+bar&sll=55.843036,-4.264069&sspn=0.046841,0.109177&ie=UTF8&ll=55.887635,-4.223557&spn=0.093609,0.218353&z=12&iwloc=A&cid=55860259,-4240418,13141923959407065408&output=embed&s=AARTsJqGghW2uHJbrU6LdhaFHHBPEGBqQg&w=425&h=350]

Emma

Emma

Hello!

I am Emma and with my husband Mark write Foodie Explorers, which is a food and travel website.

I am a member of the Guild of Food Writers and British Guild of Travel Writers.

We have a wide range of judging experience covering products, hotels and have judged, for example, for Great Taste Awards and Scottish Baker of the Year.

Along the way Mark gained WSET Level 2 in Wine and I have WSET Level 2 in Spirits as well as picking up an award with The Scotsman Food and Drink Awards.    

Usually I can be found sleeping beside a cat.

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16 Comments

  1. John Devanney

    Not recommended for anybody with an English accent!!
    Myself & a work collegue unfortunately entered this “pub” after a six hour journey to be told we had “had enough to drink tonight” – I am baffled to how they came to this conclusion as we were trying to buy our first pint of the day! The only explanation I can muster is down to hostility towards the English accent we have, an accent of which I am very proud since losing my English mother in May this year, a lady who loved Scotland & her people.
    I will add that I am disgusted at the racial selection of who these people will serve and justify their actions with the “right to reserve” laws, an action I must say I have never witnessed in England against any Scottish man or woman purely for being Scottish. I am also proud to know that.
    All I did wrong was drive to Glasgow, decide to have a pint & pick the wrong bar to drink in, I would have appreciated more honesty & have been told it was because I was English, instead of stating it was because I had drank too much when I had had nothing to drink before this occurence, because I could have pointed out the fact that I am actually Irish & from Donegal, where an accountable number of tourists come from who will now, after explaining this will rightfully boycott this bar, along with any other friends of mine, whether English Scottish, Irish or Welsh, as I do get along with all of these nationalities – unlike this “pub”!

    1. Gabby

      Usually Scotland is more homophobic/transphobic rather than racist,it may be because you were being very English and very loud,sorry to be stereo-typical but it’s the only thing I can think off,I was a bouncer for a number of years before transitioning and I would only not allow people in if they had a bad attitude or were very intoxicated,it would have nothing to do with a person’s accent or nationality that’s for sure,sorry to hear of your experience,especially in glasgow
      g

  2. John Devanney

    I really believe the last comment may get deleted so just to let you know I will be posting these TRUE comments anywhere relevant, even to a solicitor because if this was about skin colour instead of accents then I’m sure the staff would have thought twice, as discrimination against skin colour seems to concern the government moreso than nationality…an Englishman can be treated as 2nd class in the UK by certain individuals……..ok, why not take England away & leave it to Scotland, Wales & N.Ireland, we’ll see the UK would not be anywhere near as prosperous, go it alone, please then maybe my income tax will come down because my tax money won’t be building a seperatist Scottish parliament.
    Why hate the English? We have not done anything to you that you haven’t done to us….

  3. admin

    Why would your comment be deleted? It is a review site and what you have posted is how you felt when you were there. I’m surprised of this as the college bar is pretty popular with tourists looking for the oldest pub in town. As for your second post, I can possibly see where the we dont want to serve you response came from!

  4. michael

    I have no idea whether you were refused service because of your accent or not. You don’t appear to have any evidence for the assertion – most pubs in Glasgow are full of English people. Perhaps some of you HAD had a bit to drink on the 6 hour drive, to em… High Street? (hey , it happens to us all….)

    I walked out of a pub in London sfter being called a “Scotch c***” by one of the regulars to hoots of laughter from his friends. This was a Wetherspoons in Holborn, not some crappy backstreet bar. This particular incident tuined my night, and my holiday and – given the general level of hostility towards Scots in the English media etc. – I haven’t been tempted back.

    It’s a shame you used the incident as an excuse to attack everyone in Scotland (NI and Wales) using the usual tired stereotyping (we are scroungers… gee, how original). This says more about you. I am not too bothered that you won’t be coming back. We get enough of this crap as it is. *shrug*

  5. ERIC

    I would never tarnish a whole nation(even england)with one brush just because some uneducated twit called me SCOTCH GIT,or tight,jock,i couldnt count how many times its happened to me down south.the stereotyping is silly.thats like me saying England won the war single handed.and we all know its as mythical as nessie.that it was usa & russia and it wasnt churchill who was in charge!It was one pub out of thousands!

  6. rob

    If it helps I have been refused my first pint in pubs before for ‘having too much’. This is generally because i have exhausted myself during the day and look groggy and unsteady on my feet – this could be your case after 6 hours of travel.

  7. andy

    hi sorry to hear about your encounter in the old college bar as previous bloggers have said most of us scots are more than welcoming so please come back also i think the oldest pub in glasgow is the clutha vaults at the bottom of stockwell street the name clutha is gaelic for clyde i think

    1. Gill

      Cluthas were the small boats that ran a bus type shuttle service up and down the Clyde, very important when ship building was at the forefront of the Clyde, in getting workers to and from their place of employment.

      As for being refused a pint for being English, yes it may happen, I have been the victim of similar for being Scottish,,in England, so please dont generalise, It takes all sorts,,there are narrow minded bigots on both sides of the border,

  8. GARY INGLIS

    I would like to say sorry to anyone who has been offended by the attitude of staff in this pub but believe me things are changing. I have recently took over the lease at the Old College Bar on 7th March 2011. Over the next 8 weeks the bar is due to be redecorated and toilets refurbished and as pointed out the outside cleaned up.

  9. Stuart Rankin

    I worked in this pub for over 13 years until recently. The staff generally had an excellent attitude and have been praised for their friendliness and welcoming nature by people from all over the world, including England. From about November last year until about February, there were a large group of English workers who wouldn’t drink anywhere else and loved the pub. Sorry to hear about being knocked back but I can assure you it wouldn’t have been your accent that caused it.

  10. christine cooper
    christine cooper

    joe was this the pub we saw at the corner of the hotel lol.

  11. James Stephen Kerr
    James Stephen Kerr

    Having lived in Glasgow all my life and very proud to be a Glaswegian,i recently visited the Old College Bar with my nephew who is over from the USA, he wanted to visit some real old bars in the city so i took him into the Scotia bar as this is one of our oldest pubs in Glasgow, We got talking to one of the regulars and he told me that i should take him up to the Old College Bar.
    When we got there we were met by Gary behind the bar who couldn’t have been more helpful and was clued up on the history of the bar and allowed us to take some pictures.
    Sadly the pub is to close in five years so anyone out there wanting to visit the bar better get there skates on,,,,,,,,

  12. annie

    Having been a long term regular of the old college bar i can assure everyone that there is no biased attitude towards anybody within the old collge bar everyone is made welcome it is a great friendly wee pub im sorry you felt you were unfairly treated i honestly cant understand why as the other comments left have stated that we have workmen from england also students who love this bar and wouldnt drink anywhere else.

  13. Pub drinker

    Just read this
    http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/mobile/news/dismay-at-bid-to-close-glasgows-oldest-pub-119703n.20634553

    “Bishop Loch has asked the council’s Planning Committee for permission to demolish the pub, although the application gives no indication what, if anything, would likely be built in its place.”

    What? so if you pay the council enpugh money theyll demolosh other peoples businnes for nothing? Shocking!

    “The landlady at the Old College Bar is 42-year-old Angela Gibson. She said: “I used to run the Lampost Bar in Duke Street, just over the road. But that was demolished in September 2011 and I took over in here the following month. “I would be very upset if the same thing was to happen to this pub.”If this is demolished I couldn’t take on another bar, I’d just go back to my old job in retail.””

    Shame on you Glasgow “world war z” City Council!

  14. Glasgow Foodie

    For info – after closing for a short while the Old College bar has recently re-opened

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