Glasgow – Sir John Moore Pub
And another JD Wetherspoon outlet, which I visited on my pursuit to go to as many Good Beer Guide listed pubs in Glasgow (I say Glasgow, but my efforts are national….) as I had time for. This one is in an unexceptional building which was formerly a row of shops. It’s named after Sir John Moore (obviously I suppose….) who was a locally born British army general. He lived between 1761 and 1809, serving in the military from 1776 until he was killed in action. A monument was erected in George Square in 1811 to commemorate his life, the first to be put there.
The interior, which is functional but there’s nothing overly exciting here, it’s not a grand conversion of a bank like some of their other pubs in the city.
The beers were fine, the first photo is of the Pentland IPA from Stewart Brewing and the second photo is of the Seven Giraffes from Williams Brothers Brewing Co. Both beers were well-kept and at the appropriate temperature and all that, but the Seven Giraffes was quite bland and unexciting. The Kettle crisps were delicious.
Service was polite enough and the environment felt comfortable and safe. There was a choice from seven different ales during my visit, with nothing standing out to be exceptional, but at least there was a choice. Another failure though in providing any range of beer styles, the beers were all quite samey and there were no dark options.
I had a little look at the reviews of the pub and noted one angry customer complain about the staff and note “I only spoke to 3 staff but all had attitude issues”. I don’t know how some customers manage this, I’d struggle to find three staff in a year who I’d say had anywhere near attitude issues, let alone three in one pub in one visit. Actually, I do have a clue what the problem might be here…..
And another review that noted:
“Absolute shambles standing at the bar for 15 minutes waving a tenner around at a bar with no more than 1 layer of people being served. Staff should use their eyes! Pointed this out to be told you’ll be served when someone is available… well the 5 of you serving were available several times and the only reason I hadn’t been was your staffs poor bartending.”
I’d be willing to bet that the staff had used their eyes and had managed to ignore the customer that was waving their notes about. The amount of customers that I’ve seen over the years sticking their notes out towards bar staff as they walk down the bar, or bang coins on the counter as if that will help…..
Anyway, I digress. There was nothing particularly wrong with this pub and the prices were inevitably cheap and affordable as it’s operated by JD Wetherspoon. I can’t think of anything overly exciting to note about the place and it seems to have got in the Good Beer Guide for the valid reason that they have a lot of well-kept beers.
