Òran Mór
Jeff gave this building one star and told people to keep walking to Ashton Lane, and he would still drink whisky here at one in the morning because nothing else in the West End is open.
Why go
A Play, A Pie and A Pint has staged a new lunchtime play here every week since 2004, and the BBC counts up to 40 plays a year as well as two pantomimes
1. Theatre director David MacLennan started it with Colin Beattie, the publican who was converting the building when the two of them met in the street. Robbie Coltrane, Karen Dunbar and Mel Giedroyc have played the room, and John Mortimer, Denise Mina and Peter McDougall have written for it. The other reason to come through the door is the hour. This is one of the last places in the West End still pouring a dram after Ashton Lane has locked up.
The building was a church, and the acoustics still tell you so. Alasdair Gray was up a ladder painting the auditorium ceiling while the first play was being staged underneath him in 2004.
Order this / avoid
- Order: a dram. Jeff rates the whisky here and he rates nothing else behind this bar. If you want to eat, the pie comes with a play ticket at lunchtime and that is the sitting to book.
- Avoid: the kitchen and most of the taps. Jeff's own review calls the beer, the cider and the cocktails generic and the food very underwhelming, and he says the place is not family friendly.
What locals & experts say
- BBC News (19 February 2024):
Established in 2004, A Play, A Pie and a Pint produces up to 40 plays a year as well as two pantomimes in the Oran Mor venue in Glasgow.
1 - Linda Duncan McLaughlin, in the same report, on performing the first show:
It was upstairs in the main auditorium where the artist Alasdair Gray was working on his mural.
1 - Local rec: Jeff's save, and his one-star review below.
Good to know
- Timing: late, and later than almost anything around it. Jeff puts the close at around 1am on his list and his review says it sometimes runs to 3am. The venue publishes no hours, so those two figures are his.
- Booking: walk-in for the bar. A Play, A Pie and A Pint is ticketed through the box office, and shows run at lunchtime.
- Getting there: 731 Great Western Road, on the corner at the top of Byres Road, about 330 m north of Hillhead subway. Ashton Lane is a similar walk in the other direction.
- Hygiene: FHIS Pass, inspected 4 October 20213. That inspection is nearly five years old, so it is a record of the kitchen then and not now.
Where Jeff sends you instead
The Ubiquitous Chip is 370 m down Byres Road on Ashton Lane, and its Wee Whisky Bar pours until midnight. The Belle is a few minutes west along Great Western Road for a coal fire and a proper pint. Naked Soup is 70 m away on Kersland Street and is the daytime answer.
Every one of those doors is locked by the time Jeff is drinking whisky here at one in the morning, and at that hour this room beats all three by being open.
Jeff's take (his words)
- His review (Jeff, first-hand, 1 star, 16 April 2024): "Oran no Mor. It is a massive city landmark with an imposing exterior atmosphere. That's most of what it has going for it. Skip this tourist trap and keep walking to the nearby Ubiquitous Chip, one of the bars on Ashton Lane, or anywhere else. Sadly most of the drinks (beer, cider, cocktails) are generic. There is usually a decent whisky selection. I didn't like the food, very underwhelming. It is one of the few late night options, sometimes open until 3am.
Update: The whisky selection has gone downhill with big gaps; the staff blamed shortages and said there was nothing new or notable. Other whisky bars don't seem to be having issues. This place is not family friendly. Do yourself a favour and go elsewhere. The Belle down the street, naked soup, hillhead book club, or pretty much anywhere else in Glasgow."
- Note: "Fine for tourists with a decent whisky selection and open late. The play and a pint series and music can be worth going. Avoid the food. See my scathing review on Google maps to keep walking to Ashton lane. One of the only places open late until around 1am. Popular late night kebab shop next door 727."
- Google review, April 2024 (one star): "Oran no Mor. It is a massive city landmark with an imposing exterior atmosphere. That's most of what it has going for it. Skip this tourist trap and keep walking to the nearby Ubiquitous Chip, one of the bars on Ashton Lane, or anywhere else. Sadly most of the drinks (beer, cider, cocktails) are generic. There is usually a decent whisky selection. I didn't like the food, very underwhelming."
- The update he appended to it: "The whisky selection has gone downhill with big gaps; the staff blamed shortages and said there was nothing new or notable. Other whisky bars don't seem to be having issues. This place is not family friendly. Do yourself a favour and go elsewhere."
- Later, 15 August 2026: "I would still go there for 1am whisky because there is nothing else open."
Verdict
listed — Jeff gave this building one star in April 2024 and wrote 'Skip this tourist trap and keep walking to the nearby Ubiquitous Chip, one of the bars on Ashton Lane, or anywhere else.' That is the rung, and it is his own first-hand judgment against a room he has been in more than once. He rates the exterior and nothing else about the fabric: 'It is a massive city landmark with an imposing exterior atmosphere. That's most of what it has going for it.' The drink he calls generic across beer, cider and cocktails, the food he calls very underwhelming, and in an update he appended himself the whisky gantry had developed big gaps that other Glasgow whisky bars did not have. Two things keep it on the board instead of off it. A Play, A Pie and A Pint has run here since 2004 and produces up to 40 new plays a year, which the BBC reports and which no other room in Britain matches. And the bar is still pouring at one in the morning when Ashton Lane has shut, which is why Jeff still walks through the door at that hour and why hiding this venue from a late-night search would be its own kind of dishonest. Listed is the honest rung: a real answer to one narrow question, and a warning at every other hour.