The Cartvale.

The Cartvale

A Member of Parliament tabled a motion in the House of Commons congratulating this pub, then a second one when it and the pub down the street were both shortlisted for a UK award.

Why go

Rick and Liz Houston took the tenancy while the pub was struggling during the first lockdown in 2020, and have since put around sixty thousand pounds into it (Barrhead News). Liz describes the shift as going from a pub that was fairly an old school boozer... to a much more family-friendly, open, country pub, part of the community now really (Star Pubs). What that bought is four separate rooms: a traditional bar with a wood burner, a restaurant on the floor above, a private function room, and a garden with its own outdoor bar and a woodland corner built for dogs. Thirty-five people work there. All three of the Houstons' children are on the rota. Rick came out of hospitality and Liz out of engineering and recruitment, and he has folded his own hobby into the trade, telling Star Pubs, I'm a biker, so we held a couple of bike nights, which were really successful. Liz put a number on one: Over 100 motorbikes came down on a sunny night and we had a barbecue outside!

Order this / avoid

• Order: Sunday lunch is the menu they publish separately, so that is the meal to aim at. Otherwise cask ale in the bar, or a cocktail out of the garden shack once the terrace is open for the season. Coffee and cake runs from 11am.
• Avoid: turning up hungry before noon, because the kitchen does not start until 12 and stops at 8pm, half an hour later on Friday and Saturday. And do not plan this as a walk from the Southside: it is Busby, in East Renfrewshire, six miles or so out of the city.

What locals & experts say

• UK Parliament, Early Day Motion 63561 (April 2025), tabled by Blair McDougall MP: the House congratulates The Cartvale and The White Cart pubs in East Renfrewshire on their shortlisting for the National Pub and Bar Awards 2025 and notes the significance of this achievement with two Busby pubs selected out of all the pubs across the entirety of the United Kingdom eligible for consideration.2
• UK Parliament, Early Day Motion 60869, on the earlier win: the pub was recognised as a county winner in the national pub and bar awards which were conducted by Pub and Bar magazine, one of 94 county winners, and the only establishment in East Renfrewshire to be named. The same motion records a GBP 385,000 refurbishment and a reopening under new ownership in September 2019, which is the transformation the Houstons inherited.1
• Star Pubs Recognition Award (2025), reported by Barrhead News: the Cartvale was one of six pubs to have been picked out of 2,400 in the country to take the award, which recognizes a pub's contribution to its community. At the time of reporting it was also under consideration for a Star Award in the Great British Pub Awards.3
• Rick Houston on taking it on: We'd always wanted a pub of our own and had looked at lots of different sites. As soon as we walked into The Cartvale it struck a chord with us.3
• Local rec: Jeff's save. He left no note on it.

Good to know

• Timing: open 11am to midnight Monday to Thursday and Sunday, 11am to 1am Friday and Saturday. Kitchen noon to 8pm, or 8.30pm Friday and Saturday. Coffee and cake from 11am.
• Booking: online booking on the venue site, or 0141 644 4495. Worth booking for the upstairs restaurant and essential for the function room.
• Outside: the terrace, garden and cocktail shack seat 125 by the pub's own count, and 150 by the newspaper's. Either way it is a big garden, and it has an outdoor bar.
• Dogs and access: dog friendly, with a woodland area in the garden for them. Wheelchair access and a smoking area.
• Where it actually is: 27 Main Street, Busby, East Renfrewshire G76 8DS.
• Hygiene: East Renfrewshire Council rates the address a Pass under the Food Hygiene Information Scheme, inspected 6 November 2025.6

Verdict

could-visit — A Busby village pub that Rick and Liz Houston took over during the first lockdown and turned from what Liz calls an old school boozer into a four-room operation: traditional bar with a wood burner, restaurant upstairs, private function room, and a garden with an outdoor bar and a woodland area built for dogs. The recognition is real and it is all about hospitality rather than cooking. It was a county winner in Pub & Bar magazine's National Pub & Bar Awards, one of six tenancies out of 2,400 to take a Star Pubs Recognition Award, and shortlisted again in 2025 alongside The White Cart down the street, which got both pubs named in a Commons motion. Rick is a biker and has run bike nights that pulled over a hundred machines into the garden with a barbecue going.