Horseshoe Bar Glasgow
The island counter runs 104 feet 3 inches, which makes it the longest bar in Scotland and, on CAMRA's measurement of 31.8 meters, the second longest in the UK behind the Falcon in Battersea by about 80 centimeters.
Why go
The shop at 17-19 Drury Street has sold spirits since William Turnbull took it in 1846, and John Scouller bought the licence in 1884 and gave the pub its name and its horse brasses. The counter reached its record length in the early 1900s under John Young Whyte, and the interior has changed little enough since that CAMRA lists it on the National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors as "a nationally important interior which includes Scotland's longest bar." It works as a pub rather than a monument. Four changing cask ales are kept halfway down the counter on the left, the kitchen runs from noon to 10pm, and the upstairs lounge turns into a karaoke room in the evening.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the weekday lunch deal, food plus a drink for £7.95 between noon and 4pm Monday to Friday, then a cask ale from the handpulls; CAMRA's January 2026 survey found Stewart Jack Back, Oakham Citra, Fuller's London Pride and Timothy Taylor Landlord among the rotation.1
- Avoid: the upstairs lounge on a karaoke night if you came to talk. Children are welcome up there until the singing starts.
What locals & experts say
- CAMRA (surveyed January 2026):
one of the finest examples of Scotland's Victorian island-bar pubs,
dating from 1870, with the real alehalfway down the bar on the left side.
1 - CAMRA National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors: the interior is nationally important, and the building has been Category A listed since 1988.2
- CAMRA beer record (updated 24 January 2026), on rotation rather than heritage: the pub is logged as serving four changing beers and no regular beers, but Stewart's Jack Back carries 46 recent sightings against three for Oakham Citra, and the changing lineup CAMRA names is Fuller's London Pride, Jack Back and Timothy Taylor Landlord, sourced nationally. That is a fixed list wearing a rotating label.1
- The pub's own channels (July 2026): four well-kept cask ales appear as a standing bullet next to Sky Sports and karaoke nights, with no tap list, guest-beer page or takeover programme anywhere on the site, and the freehold sits with Mitchells and Butlers.4
- Local rec: Jeff's save, his note below.
Good to know
- Timing: 11am to midnight daily, food noon to 10pm, the cheap lunch window noon to 4pm on weekdays.
- Booking: walk-in. No reservations, and the ground floor packs out on weekend evenings.
- Getting there: a lane off Renfield Street, 250 meters from Glasgow Central, which makes it a workable first stop before a train.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: "Iconic Glasgow pub with large horshoe bar. Worth a visit."
Verdict
could-visit — A stop, not a send, and the reason is the beer. Four handpumps are logged by CAMRA as changing with no regular beer, yet its own beer record has Stewart's Jack Back sighted 46 times in the recent window against three for the Oakham Citra next to it, and the typical rotation it names is London Pride, Jack Back and Landlord, three national brands any Mitchells and Butlers managed house buys without thinking. The pub sells four well-kept cask ales as a standing feature beside eleven sports screens, and publishes no tap list. So what you come for is the room: 104 feet 3 inches of Category A listed Victorian island counter, twenty minutes well spent between Central and Sauchiehall Street, plus one of the best cheap lunches in the city centre. Weighing what is in the glass ahead of the architecture moves this down from should-visit: for cask in the city centre the send is the Bon Accord, and for beer anywhere in Glasgow it is Koelschip Yard.