The city venue serving 'fun' pints to Glasgow's students

The idea for the union came about in the late 19th century when members of various student societies collaborated to form a place which would be a hub for social gatherings and events.

By forming the Students’ Representative Council in 1886 and raising funds, they managed to build a student union.

The GUU opened in 1890 and was originally located in the John McIntyre building, named after a major benefactor who had donated £5000 to the project.

It was later moved to a new building at the foot of University Avenue, an imposing baronial mansion-style structure which remains there today.

Today, students of all backgrounds meet at the union to socialise between lectures, take part in the university’s lively debating events and enjoy the popular club nights. But only a couple of generations ago, the union did not welcome everyone.

The GUU only permitted men to join, and the university’s other union, the Queen Margaret Union (QMU), only allowed women. It had been established in 1890 when the university merged with Queen Margaret College which brought with it the introduction of female students to the institution.

GUU was the last student union in the UK to allow women, and even after the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975, a referendum to mix the two unions was defeated significantly.

Students protesting after reports of alleged sexism at GUU (Image: Newsquest)

In 1979, a general meeting of the QMU passed a vote to allow men to be members, and the GUU eventually followed suit the following year when they were under threat from the University Court of losing the lease on a new extension to the building.

This issue arose again in 2013 when two female students from Edinburgh and Cambridge visiting the union for a debate complained that they were subject to sexist heckling from GUU members.

An investigation from the senate found that there was no case to answer, but the incident sparked the union to introduce a diversity and equality policy where they encouraged more women speakers to become involved in debates.

As well as hosting debates for students from all over the world, GUU is also home to a large billiard hall, study libraries, a coffee shop contained within the old smoking room, a Subway sandwich shop, and several bars.

These include The Well, Base, G12, and Hive, the nightclub which is the home to the infamous ‘pint of fun’, coming in a variety of shockingly bright colours and topped off with foam.

Was the ‘fun’ part drinking it, getting foam in your eyes, or having it spilt all over you and trying to get it out of your clothes the next morning? Who knows.  

Arcade Fire (Image: Newsquest)

Many well-known bands have played in the union, from Arcade Fire to Chvrches, at the social highlight of the year: Daft Friday. The annual black-tie party is held at the end of the semester before Christmas and is attended by around 2000 guests.

It first dates to 1905 when student James Bridie decided to host a concert in the union to cure his ‘boredom’.

A few members began singing around a piano in the committee room, and as more students poured out of their lectures to join them, the event had to be moved into the larger debating chamber.

Then as Bridie put it in his autobiography: “Daft Friday went on till Saturday. Nobody with any tincture of humanity in him attended a class that day.”