GUU Beer Bar

The good old GUU beer bar, it’s not glamorous, it’s not new and shiny, it smells a little bit but it’s all the better for it. I have spent many hours here before class, after class, when I should have been at class. The drinks are cheap, the banter is cheerful and it’s great to sit outside on a summers day with an ice cold drink and watch the student world go by.
I remember in first year I headed here for Freshers Week and they had a competition of downing pints, with all the over confident first years there was a huge number of participants all trying to drink as much as they good. One of my friends took part and like a good friend, I went along for support for his big moment. Towards then end I had to leave for some air and watching the last men standing trying to hold back sickness made a little nauseous to say the least and I was just glad when it was all over.

I began and finished my university (drinking) career in this bar, although admittedly if you are to pick camps I had two feet firmly rooted in Jim’s Bar.
Glasgow Uni is the only uni in this region to divide itself firmly into two archaic camps *yawn*, and when you matriculate you are torn between either becoming a member of elitist GUU or the apparently laid back, baggy jeans contigency of the QMU. Although these unions operate hand in hand on a board member’s level, the susceptible newcomers choose either to rush in their throngs to Jim’s or to spend their years in here.
Although I’m wise to stereotypes I did admittedly feel more comfortable in the QM. My experiences in the GUU weren’t bad unless, as the girls have outlined, you’re in on a weekend and some boy asks if he can «pull» you because you look «goth» (I listen to Girls Aloud but wore black eyeliner and fishnets, so of *course* I love my black metal) or when a group of guys accost you and ask you to get your lady bits out for the lads. How charming! The sad thing is I stepped over these guys necking some chicks later on in the evening as I made my escape.
…and that’s a weekend in university life. Those were the days! Even on nights like that I do mourn it. And not all GUU members are like that by the way — it’s just the ones who fall into the «rugby boy», beer bar occupants who manage to make a song and dance about it. Empty vessels make the most noise! But during the week, you’re met with a much calmer clientele who just want to chill between lectures, or neck a few drinks before a presentation (yes, I did do that once or twice to calm the old nerves).
It’s a gorgeous old bar in a wonderful old building, so in terms of appearance it trumps Jim’s and indeed many other surrounding bars as it has a heritage. This is evident during the week when you can come for an inexpensive pint, a game of pool and a chat with your mates. But at the weekend this is a different animal. So unless you’re into booze and people that will open their legs as fast as your beer bottle (meow — and incidently I don’t just mean the ladies) maybe you should go elsewhere.
But if you’re feeling brave, this is all part of the university experience. I’m just a bit too long in the tooth with this kind of jazz to be excited at this place anymore… not because I feel old, not at all… no, that is not a wrinkle on my face! They call them laughter lines!

As Katie points out this is a union bar, so I would suggest avoiding it later on at night during the weekends (and altogether on pound a pint Wednesdays) ’cause it gets crazy busy, loud and filled with the most obnoxious group of students. This being rugby boys, public school boys and an array of very stuck up and rude individuals.
However, if you time it right this place is brilliant. The best and easiest time for enjoying cheap drinks is definitely the summer, when almost all the students have mass migrated elsewhere. This leaves a few local students, younger unemployed folks and the odd old alcoholic (though the student only rule being enforced with more vigour recently, this is becoming increasingly unlikely).
This quietness allows you the choice of kings: sit outside sunning yourself and smoking as much as you can while buses and cars whizz past (or creep along beside you during rush hour); or opt to sit inside in a comfy, and tatty, green leather booth.
The prices have got to be one of the best things about this pub. You can get most drinks for around the £1 or £1.25 mark, while my beloved Addlestones is sold for £2.28 (or thereabouts) making it almost a whole pound cheaper than other pubs.
They also offer crisps, nuts and some rather dodgy looking nachos that get better looking as the night goes on. There’s also a Subway open further up (somewhere I’ve never actually had to venture to as the boy’s happily undertaken this mission alone) for something a bit more substantial.
One of my favourite summer watering holes, though beware during term time.

Down on the bottom floor of the Glasgow University Union — you’ll find the Beer Bar. It’s not the fanciest looking place in the world; but its warm, welcoming and cheap. Could you want anything else in a union bar? Probably not.
This place is pretty much exclusively used by students — but if you’re with students then you can usually get away with it.
The green leather booths and general dark interior design is reminiscent of old man pubs — but can you really complain when vodka and a mixer will only set you back about a pound?
There are big screens up on the walls that are usually showing Sky Sports — which is great if you like that sort of thing (and not too hard to ignore if you don’t). Music tends to range from old classics such as Eric Clapton and Black Sabbath to current hits such as Ke$ha. Eclectic to say the least!