Worst, most horrific pubs with a machine?

Vidmar · Post by **Vidmar** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 1:25 am

Our route through Glasgow usually takes us to Dow's, a tiny hellhole next to Queen Street Station. One of those annoying places where no drink price finishes in '99' etc, it's all £2.11 for a JD, £1.76 for a pint etc.

And the whole place smells of old man's piss. And it does karaoke on a Firday. Ugh.

Cardinal Sin · Post by **Cardinal Sin** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:59 am

Ah yes Dows. A word of warning to anyone visiting Glasgow Queen St, you might be tempted to nip into the nearest pub (Dow's) for a quick piss. There you will find one of their red-nosed regulars taking it upon himself to bar you from going in unless you buy a drink.

And while we're on the subject, if any of you are into your piss-filled alleys, I highly recommend going just round the corner from Dow's, where there is a bookies, the back door to Waxy O' Connors, and enough piss to sink a battleship.

cool · Post by **cool** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 4:12 pm

Back to my favourite subject The Litten Tree Bournemouth because of the idiot landlord. I was in a pub recently playing the machine when two people sitting next to the machine were convinced that I was a policeman (who I dislike more than rogue landlords)and giving me aggro, one had recently got out of prison. It was only after I let off a tirade about why I dislike police that things calmed down and we got on like a house on fire.

Nil Satis · Post by **Nil Satis** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 5:20 pm

While it's not really grotty in the sense of never being cleaned or smelling of wee, I'd like to nominate the Yates's at Leicester Square. The charges:

- although it does have two ItBoxes, and one is the current edition (47?), the other one, with a much older and therefore potentially intriguing selection, has faulty credit mechanisms and has never accepted money for credits in all my brief visits there

- it's well over £3 for a pint, which isn't actually the case in most of the London pubs I know

- they charge £5 to get in after 11.00pm, even on a Monday night (I suppose the idea is you should be grateful to find anywhere open after 11.00pm in what is after all only one of the most popular tourist cities in the world!)

- I have been challenged there on the door for ID, but not sadly for looking under 21 but rather for some unspecified reason presumably related to the alleged War on Terror

- the Gents is too small but still has room for one of those guys asking you for a quid for the privilege of washing your own hands

Can anyone beat that for a rap sheet??

grecian · Post by **grecian** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 5:29 pm

It's also £2 for a half of diet coke in the Leicester Square Yates'. That said, on all occasions I've been in both ItBoxes have worked adequately and indeed have paid out generously on several occasions to me. For me, no pub that has a machine is truly loathsome.

echoes · Post by **echoes** » Wed Jan 10, 2007 8:28 pm

Dow's at Queen St station is an example of the bad side of the Scottish smoking ban. Rather than being your typical jakey pub where you could walk in and cut the smokey atmosphere with a knife, when you walk in you're now met with a stench wall of urinal cakes and piss. Annoyingly, it has one of the best machines.

There's another one in Glasgow between Yates's (not the Sauchiehall St Yates's) and Revolution. I forget what it's called now. It's a dingy little pub that's open four nights a week and I've never seen anyone drinking in there. We wandered in to try the machine and the place was empty, naturally. Two drinks for £1.60 each and four quid out the machine later, we promptly left. The place is now "closed for refurbishment."

There's bound to be a pub down toward the Barras with a machine so a trip there could uncover the "horrific pub to end all horrific pubs (with a machine.)"

harry13.50 · Post by **harry13.50** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 1:42 am

Is the Squirrel bar near the amusement arcade still not been burned down ?

If not thats up there for a nomination.