The Grove

The Grove is one of those wee places that you know about by chance, or by word of mouth. You’ll have been there with a friend, who heard about it from another friend, or you stumbled upon it by chance.
You definitely won’t have been attracted by a fancy PR campaign, or a big expensive designer entrance. It’s never changed in all the time I’ve known about it, and I’m no youngster any more.
What you see is what you get. It’s a pub. Nothing more, nothing less. Friendly staff, punters that will chat away as if they’ve known you all your life, and pretty cheap prices.
Grab a comfy seat, grab a drink, and just relax. It’s the pub equivalent of sitting in your mate’s front room, and it’s never changed. I hope it never will.

The Grove Bar looks a bit gritty from the outside, and a stark little joint with its bold lettering against the bricked exterior. If you were to take it at face value you would think it was the most local of locals, and be too intimidated to enter in case everyone turned their head as you walked in to stare you right back out the door.
Wrong!
The Grove is actually a very friendly, no frills place to get a cheap pint in Glasgow. There are a lot of locals who occupy it but they are largely generous, friendly and game for a banter if you are. They do good pub quizzes, cheap pints, show major sporting events and have good humoured, approachable bar staff.
Cosy on a winter’s night and always cheap for pints, it’s great. It’s not buying into the flashy trend of bars that has swept this area, but consequently now offers a different variety of pub. You could do a hell of a lot worse.

While pubs in Finnieston try to outdo each other with expensive signage, you really have to admire the Grove.
As an establishment, it’s very much of the mindset that if you get a piece of cheap wood, paint it black and tack on eight rickety letters you’ve got yourself a sign. What’s more, you get the impression this is tactical rather than lazy.
The Grove has a loyal following and doesn’t particularly need or want to entice the trendy crowds the rest of Argyle Street’s watering holes are angling for. Appropriately situated just off the beaten track, on Kelvingrove Street, the pub remains one of the area’s few old school bars with prices to match.
And don’t be put off by the understated entrace, it’s welcoming and friendly — providing you don’t ask to see the cocktail list.

I stumbled across this pub somewhat by chance while on a night out with a friend. At first glance it seemed a little unwelcoming with a large group of smokers blocking the entrance, but with a little convincing from said friend we entered, and we were glad we did.
The atmosphere was relaxed with groupings of middle aged and elder fold scattered around tables, sitting comfortably on mahogany coloured leather seats.
It had three televisions, at least two too many for a room so small, but in its defence they were showing two separate football games. The drinks were very reasonably priced, our round was less than a fiver, and according to my friend, the standard of Guinness and Belhaven Best was very high.
The service was a little frosty in my opinion; though we could have caught the bar staff on a bad day, or just suffered the ‘new-​comer’ suspicion that local pubs for the older gentlemen sometimes dish out to students in search of a quiet pint. All in all, it’s a decent pub to go for a relaxed drink, although there are certainly more student-​friendly local bars in the West End.