A LEGENDARY pub is looking forward to welcoming customers back on Monday after being closed for almost nine months.
The Laurieston, on Bridge Street in Tradeston, is one of Glasgow’s most well-known watering holes but has been closed since last October due to lockdown restrictions.
Pubs across the city will be able to serve alcohol indoors as of today after Nicola Sturgeon announced earlier this week that Glasgow would finally move into level 2 Covid-19 restrictions.
The Clancy family who have run the pub for nearly forty years, have not said much about the political decisions behind the various restrictions and have instead focused on welcoming their customers once again.
Joseph Clancy, who’s dad and uncle have owned The Laurieston for nearly forty years said he worried more about the impact of the closure on their longstanding customers. He said:”We’re just getting on with it. We’ve missed the pub. For us, it’s more for the customers. A lot of the older guys who come in, that’s their day out and they don’t see anyone else. It’s the older guys who need the companionship.”
“There will be guys who will come in on Monday and they’ll see people they’ve not seen since October. They’ll maybe live a couple of streets from each other but just because they’ve not been at the pub, they’ve not seen each other. They’ll get a bit of craic, they’ll get a good laugh and that’s what you want.”
Joseph even personally phoned some of the punters to tell them they were re-opening on Monday.
They have stickers on the floor and a one-way system in place, hand sanitisers and they have taken their stools away from the bar too.
Joseph believes The Laurieston offers people something different for drinkers in Glasgow as they are one of the few family-owned and run pubs in the city. The establishment does not take card and has changed very little since the 1960s. Over the years, a community has been fostered among the regulars.
It has also become popular among younger people due to it being a stop on the infamous Glasgow subcrawl, where participants go to the nearest bar to each underground stop to have one drink.
He said: “We just run a pub. We’re not doing anything different that they didn’t do god knows how many years ago.
“People chat to everyone, even if they’re a stranger. I’ve got customers who actually made friends in here because they started chatting to them.
“There’s a guy who came in when he was on his holiday, he was from Switzerland and he comes back every other year to see the two guys he met. He’ll message me to see how they’re getting on.”
“That’s a complete stranger who just happened to come into the pub who happened to meet these people because they just got chatting.
“You wouldn’t get that in another pub. I’ve never heard of it in other pubs - rarely people talk to you. I don’t know if that’s just a thing in Glasgow.”
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