You know, there are people who have been to Glasgow and only been in the Laurieston Bar. Which is fair enough, I guess.
Glasgow CAMRA should be promoting the pearl of Spoons around the centre, all accessible by the Strathclyde Daytripper ticket.
21 minutes on the No.172 brings you to Cambuslang.
Where ? Only the 27th biggest place in Scotland, that’s where.
No, me neither, though I do recall their epic 1888 Scottish FA Cup final defeat to Renton of Trainspotting fame.
And since Midge Ure comes from here it’s technically twinned with Vienna.
It was a dreich day by now and there wasn’t much to see apart from the Fire & Rescue HQ, which is nice enough but not as attractive as the bars.


For some reason I thought the Spoons was named after Andy Fairweather Low.

It reminds me of the Capitol in South-east London; beautifully converted from a cinema to a legitimate purpose.


Blokes around the bar, families on the raised level, your favourite Marston beer on the bar.

I really should have had Gorlovka to see what would have happened if my penultimate Spoons voucher had reduced the price below the 50p/unit threshold, but the Old Boy in front had Wainwright and my rule is follow the last pour.
Another chatty barman (this Spoons is a nightmare to keep warm, apparently), another sublime and foamy pint.
“Judge me by my lacings” as Midge sang on the B side of “Sleepwalk” in 1980.
Did you know that South Lanarkshire has the highest sales of Buckfast per capita in the UK?
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Yes. I saw 😱
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Do they sell it anywhere else?
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Corby.
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Presumably popular with expat Scots who were displaced from closed steelworks to those at Corby?
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Yes, along with Tunnock biscuits , Irn Bru, and some weird craft beer from a tiny brewery near Aberdeen.
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It’s a fine conversion. Cambuslang is also ‘famous’ for having the last remaining bar selling cask beer in the Greater Glasgow area before CAMRA came to the rescue. Never forget how bad things had got!
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It’s virtually impossible to tell which were the cask bars before it went all keg, I guess.
Can’t imagine State Bar without handpumps though.
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You didn’t have to imagine it – it was reality. The island bar is also (relatively) modern.
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Renton. First ever Football World Champions.
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Was that in skittles?
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No, not skittles. soccer. see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1888_World_Championship_(football)
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I believe VAR is still reviewing the 3rd Renton goal…
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