The Islay Inn
The bar was an ice-cream factory until Thomas Blue bought it in 1968 and turned it into a pub called The Carousel, keeping the old ice-cream cellar as his drinks store (Old Glasgow Pubs).
Why go
Three nights a week this is a working session pub rather than a bar with music on. Members of Glasgow Fiddle Workshop come here after their Monday evening classes and play from around 8, mainly Scottish tunes with Irish and Cape Breton in the mix, and anyone can join in or just listen (The Session, Islay Inn Session). Thursday is the Irish night, 9 to 11ish. The fortnightly Tuesday slow session belongs to the Glasgow Folk-Music Workshop, tutor-led, and it moved here from Knolls Cafe. A licensed premises has stood on this corner of Argyle and Radnor since 1871, and the name over the door has also read Monty's, the Outside Inn and Fat's O'Mally's. The current licensees run it for the Highlands and Islands crowd, in their words for teuchters living in and/or visiting Glasgow
(Visit Glasgow business listing).
Order this / avoid
- Order: something off the malt gantry, which is where the Islay name is paid off. Then eat on the weekday offers, because they are priced like a canteen: Tuesday Curry Club at GBP 20 a head for
curry, poppadoms, spiced onions, naan and an Islay West,
Steak Frites Thursday at GBP 13, wings in six flavors on Wednesday at GBP 6, soup and a piece from GBP 8 Monday to Friday3. - Avoid: cask. CAMRA's Glasgow & West of Scotland branch records the pub as
a long-time supporter of real ale but sadly this was discontinued early in 2023,
and lists cask ale as not available1. If you want a quiet pint, skip Monday and Thursday.
What locals & experts say
- CAMRA, Glasgow & West of Scotland branch (listing last updated 22 October 2024):
Large open plan bar with an island theme. There is a large selection of malt whiskies on offer and there are frequent Scottish folk nights.
1 - Visit Glasgow (2026): names it one of four traditional Finnieston pubs with the Snaffle Bit, the Park Bar and the Ben Nevis Bar, each
renowned for its live folk music, fine whisky selections and great craic!
4 - Old Glasgow Pubs archive, quoting the May 1979 opening advert for the same room under the Outside Inn name:
Over 180 Malt Whisky on their gantry,
alongside 60/-, 70/- and 80/- on hand pumps. Treat that as history; nobody has published a current count.2 - Community signal, The Session: a visiting player who sat in on the Monday session wrote
The people were friendly, the music was great, and the atmosphere was just as it should be.
That is color from a trad-music forum, not criticism.5 - No critic, chef or award coverage was found for this pub. Nothing was found on Glasgowist, The List or The Skinny, and no specific local-press article surfaced to fetch.
Good to know
- Timing: open all day and late; the Monday session runs well past pub-quiz hours. Weekend brunch is 10am to 1pm, the Sunday roast 1pm to 8pm.
- Booking: walk in. Tables can be booked through the pub's own site, which is worth doing for a group, since the room holds 130.
- Hygiene: Pass on the Food Hygiene Information Scheme, though the recorded inspection is dated 6 September 20178.
- Getting there: 1256-1260 Argyle Street, at Radnor Street. Kelvin Hall subway is about a 10-minute walk, and the OVO Hydro is a straight walk east along Argyle Street, which is why the room fills before gigs.
Verdict
could-visit — Three weekly traditional-music sessions, one of them run by Glasgow Fiddle Workshop members straight out of their Monday classes, in a room that has been a bar on and off since 1871 and was an ice-cream factory before 1969. That is a genuine cultural function rather than a themed pub with a fiddle on the wall, and the weekday food is GBP 6 to GBP 20. It stays at could-visit because the kitchen does nothing distinctive, cask ale has been gone since 2023, and no critic or chef has ever put it on record. Go on a session night or do not bother going at all.