If indeed ‘People Make Glasgow’ then surely The Star Bar is the epicentre of that mindset. However, as publicans and staff point out; it’s being strangled. Strangled in the sense that people only ‘make’ our city if they happen to be well-appointed.
While we dash towards gentrification we perhaps miss the places that made this city what it is, the people that really make Glasgow.
The Star Bar is a perfect case-in-point. People who don’t know what happens in here might look with derision towards their three-courses for £3.
You’d be a fool to miss it. This is Glasgow. This is everything the city does well. Good people looking after their community as the rest of the city seems to have forgotten them.
Three of the staff on shift have been working here for over 30 years, and one customer has been doing the same – he’s eaten here every day for 30 years.
The £3 price tag is more an indication as to how badly bars like this are struggling in this economy. The Star Bar has suffered great hardship recently with the systematic loss of surrounding local business.
Two recessions, the loss of the local printing industry, a railway hub relocation and John Menzies factory closure have hit this pub hard, as owner Jo Marletta points out:
“We can only do the best we can with the little we have. Industry has all but disappeared around us. Word of mouth is our best advertisement. Sometimes a friendly face gives more than any fancy décor.”
The Star Bar is certainly friendly – everything people ask for when they arrive in this city – and the menu is true Glasgow fare, but served and prepared with love.
The lentil soup starter needs no seasoning whatsoever and is clearly homemade. It’s exactly what any real Glaswegian wants to line their stomach for any oncoming beer onslaught.
A main of pie and peas with gravy is no slouch either in its ability to please a willing customer. The butcher that they buy from is clearly of high quality and what arrives on your plate is something your granny would be proud of, with each aspect wonderfully prepared and appointed on the plate.
No traditional Glasgow meal would be complete without the obligatory rice pudding and fruit, or you can take a wonderful trip back to your childhood of Italian ice cream bars and warm sunny days.
Tony Hamilton, the aforementioned Star Bar stalwart, is right in his assertion that: “It’s the best. It’s the best meal in town on a budget. Where else can you go and get a quality meal for £3. I won’t eat anywhere else and…sometimes the waitress will give me a lovely wee kiss.”
Let us not forget who we are. The Star Bar offers no craft beer, no artisan burger, no frills, but it’s a beautiful part of our city’s history and a time capsule of our past. We must preserve places like this, if not for ourselves, then for those who rely upon them.
The Star Bar
537-539 Eglinton Street
Glasgow
G5 9RN
T: 0141 429 2520
The Star Bar Food Menu
STARTERS
Home-made Soup
or
Fruit Juice
MAIN COURSE
Scotch Pie £3
Sausage Hot Pot £3
Roast Beef £3
Smoked Ham £3
Roast Turkey £3
Macaroni Cheese £3
Breaded Fish £3.50
Scottish Prime Beef Mince £3.50
Ashet Pie £3.50
The above dishes are served with French Fries and Salad
or, if you prefer, Boiled Potatoes and Gravy.
DESSERT
Creamed Rice with Fruit, Jelly with Fruit
Vanilla Ice Cream with Fruit/Jelly
Tea/Coffee
3-Course lunch from £3