The Clan Bar.
Part of the MacDonald Hotel, near Giffnock, Glasgow.
A crowded Clan Bar in MacDonald hotel yesterday afternoon.
In the NEWS 1979...
Locals Cheer Latest Pub Opening Hours...
Scotland's new-look liberated liquor laws have taken another step foreword with the introduction of all-day drinking on Sundays.
Sunday tipplers can now enjoy their beer and spirits at the bar from 12.30 p.m. till 11 p.m., although such watering holes are so far few and far between.
Glasgow District Council's licensing board recently turned down a batch of Sunday all-day applications from hotels, including the city's four star Albany.
Board chairman Councillor Bill Aitken said today, "we felt the Sunday hours already existing, with a break from 2.30 p.m. till 6.30 p.m., were adequate."
PACKED
But just across the city boundary the licensing authority of Eastwood District Council have been more willing to give the idea a try. The Clan Bar in the MacDonald Hotel, at Eastwood Toll, near Giffnock, was packed yesterday for the first all-afternoon Sunday session.
Said hotel manager John McGuinness, "We just applied for the licence and got it first time. As far I know, we are the only place open during these hours in this area. It's certainly proved very popular and we had no problems.
"I would like to see next the day when a couple can come into a bar with their kids. "The new licensing laws are the best thing to happen to Scotland. They have done away with the crazy type of drinking we have had to put up with for years."
Mr Hugh Caldwell, Eastwood's licensing board clerk, commented today: "Perhaps we are more liberal than Glasgow. The board felt that with a hotel of that standard and the type of patron it attracts, it was not unreasonable to grant the all-day licence."
And the man who started the ball rolling with his committee and subsequent report, Dr. Christopher Clayson, said: "This was one of our recommendations so obviously I am pleased to hear it is being implemented.
End.
