[Closed] Never drink in a flat roofed pub

Glasgow is full of them. When tenements were torn down in the 70s they were often demolished around the ground floor pub which then had a flat roof stuck on.

Ranging from the scary people drinking establishments

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to the gentrified with wifi, coffee, real ales and decent food

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Note that only the second has any windows. A good starting point IMO for assessing the vibe of a pub. Bricked up windows often means interesting area.

I noticed the whole windowless pub thing when I was in Glasgow. Inviting!

Non-flat roofed pubs are boring, they lack atmosphere.

I used to live near one (it's not there anymore) where there was a gang land shooting, but the shooters actually got set upon by the pub goers and ended up shot themselves! Mental spot.

It's a shame they're dying out though, have heard loads of interesting stories about estate pubs.

I remember going to a pub like that on the outskirts of Glasgow. I remember it being in the middle of a housing estate, it was the most un pub like building I've ever seen...it wasn't the sort of place normally frequented by an 18yr old gobby Essex lad, luckily I was with a local guy who managed to keep me out of trouble..Jesus, that was back in 1979!

Coffee has no place in a pub. Nowt worse than trying to get a quick pint In, and some bloody yummy mummy is ordering a load of lattes.

Ok, no flat roof but it should have one...

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Me & a mate had been fishing off Middleton pier & saw a bloke come out of there, he got to about where that Transit's parked then turned around & went back in. He must've covered 500yds in that 'journey'. I've never seen anyone so pissed [s]stay upright.[/s] not fall down.

Used to make occasional trips to a pub in Ayr called The P.O.W. (Prince of Wales) .Can't remember if it had a flat roof, and pretty sure it had windows but the furniture was bolted to the floor at one time.

The one I went to looked like a building you'd find at your local football pitches..complete with steel plate doors.

The Strathmore is very posh now - it wasn't like that years ago. We went in once as students, one friend* somehow got into an arm wrestling competition with a regular and broke his thumb, so we left rapidly.

*Female.

When I was growing up there was a pub in the village that was literally a portacabin with wire over the windows and a Tennents sign outside.

That was a bit rough.

I walked into a flatroofer in Glasgow a few years ago and ordered a Guinness and a whisky. There was a silence and the barman said, are you a f-ing catholic? It was only when I left that I realized the name... Bar Gers! Unfortunately I'd just bought a flat opposite and was there checking out the local bar. The bar is flattened now, the flat is for sale if anyone is interested

The blog that the The Guardian article is based upon is worth a read.

Sad to think of all the happy memories that were formed in these places (and all the other pubs without flat roofs) as they close and decay before the inevitable conversion to a Tesco Express.

https://manchesterestatepubs.wordpress.com/

Used to make occasional trips to a pub in Ayr called The P.O.W. (Prince of Wales) .Can't remember if it had a flat roof, and pretty sure it had windows but the furniture was bolted to the floor at one time.

Was across from the racecourse, it's gone now, thankfully.

One of the pubs near me is now a bed shop!

I occasionally drink in this one before Leicester games, it's often a very interesting pint.

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@ Nobeerinthefridge That's the very place. In my defence it was the cheapest pub in the town I think

Used to make occasional trips to a pub in Ayr called The P.O.W. (Prince of Wales) .Can't remember if it had a flat roof, and pretty sure it had windows but the furniture was bolted to the floor at one time.

As Nobeer says it's gone, block of flats now (as if the area needed any more). Rest of White City is still a shithole.

(wow, didn't realise it had been knocked down in 2008 -

[img] https://goo.gl/maps/KL7SQZhSGu52 [/img]

cheers @peekay interesting read.

Ranging from the scary people drinking establishments

to the gentrified with wifi, coffee, real ales and decent food

Christ, I've been in both of them. The Strathmore has upped it's game a bit since though.

My old boss claimed to have gone into the Louden, ordered a pint, pointed at a picture of William of Orange, said 'who's the big poof on the horse?' and survived. Don't think I believe him.

Glasgow is full of them. When tenements were torn down in the 70s they were often demolished around the ground floor pub which then had a flat roof stuck on.

Ranging from the scary people drinking establishments

to the gentrified with wifi, coffee, real ales and decent food

Not even a mention of the press bar refusing to sell up?!

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I used to live near one (it's not there anymore) where there was a gang land shooting, but the shooters actually got set upon by the pub goers and ended up shot themselves! Mental spot.

I've heard that one. Was that in Salford? Somewhere between Langworthy and the precinct?

I used to live near one (it's not there anymore) where there was a gang land shooting, but the shooters actually got set upon by the pub goers and ended up shot themselves! Mental spot.

I've heard that one. Was that in Salford? Somewhere between Langworthy and the precinct?

The Brass Handles. Now no longer there. I had the dubious pleasure of living nearby at the time too. Never went in there. Waaaaaaay too scary!

That incident happened at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon, on a match day, so the pub would have been packed. Not a single witness. thats Salford 6 for you.

We drank in the Woolpack. Another flat-roofed pub on the other side of the precinct, which according to the Cook Report was the only pub in Salford not paying protection money to Paul Massey. The landlords hired hardman had apparently been shot on 3 occasions as a result, and as they'd all failed to kill him, they now left the place well alone. It also had 2 massive Alsatians running around on the roof. If you spent the afternoon in there (as lazy students, we often did) you'd be offered just about anything known to man, for sale

Happy memories indeed

Another of Glasgow's fine establishments

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As we're posting piccies, The Woolpack - our old local. Now closed, but still standing

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And the Brass Handles, where the hit-men were murderized, now gone...

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I do miss Salford 6.

I suppose the difference between those ^ and the Glasgow flat roof pub is the latter are a quirk of planning regs. Those ones above had flat roofs on by design.

Because they're landmarks pubs and churches are quite difficult to get planning permission to demolish - both have to sit empty for quite few years - allowing options for them to come back into use before permission gets granted. In Liverpool that gives the distinctive corner pubs that aren't on the corner of anything anymore and in Glasgow you get the ground floor of a former tenement.

Thats what makes Glasgow flat roofers pretty menacing in appearance as they've got the scale and bulk of a structure that used bear the weight of another 3 or 4 floors above it.

In the era those pubs were built drinking was a little taboo - window ledges were high and windows opaque and it wasn't considered polite for drinking to be seen from the street - which adds the barrack-like feel to them.

[url= https://www.google.co.uk/maps/ @51.5884517,-2.9324132,3a,75y,243.37h,96.42t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s2WRLllYiA5_pU_juU61elg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656]Not just up north[/url]
We popped in here once on the way back from the car auctions - it was a bit interesting

I remember at the height of the Gunchester thing walking into the Spinners, a flat-roofed pub in Moss side. There was an enormous gangster sat there watching Corrie on a portable telly. In front of him, just lying on the table, was a nine bar, a set of scales, and an effing huge machete

Above the bar was a handwritten sign that said 'will customers please purchase a drink before buying drugs'

Nice place

Christ! Manchester was mental back then!

“[Estate pubs] are seemingly minor pieces of architecture … but they’re of great importance and should be treated that way.”

Really?

Surely the ultimate in flat-roofed drinking establishments....

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The round, flat-roofed pub. The Drum in St Retford. Now demolished and replaced with a Macdonalds. I doubt anyone mourned its passing

ahaha some memories there binners!

I left Salford in 2001 for the relative peace of the Hulme Redbricks. While in Salford I looked like a scrawnier version of Neil from the Young Ones, and so rarely went to local pubs. But you did just remind me of the time that my housemate was walking to the shop, about lunchtime one day, when he was asked by a random passing scally if he'd help drag the driver of a BMW (that had just pulled over to make a phonecall) out of the car so he could steal it. Friend said no, scally shrugged, told him to **** off then and went on his merry way

Didn't know the Drum had gone. In later years I used to go past that every day and wonder what it was like inside. Not enough to actually go in though, ha

In the era those pubs were built drinking was a little taboo - window ledges were high and windows opaque and it wasn't considered polite for drinking to be seen from the street - which adds the barrack-like feel to them.

quite like that little social detail - thanks

This one is near me. Looks hellish

https://goo.gl/maps/FXW17DnSCon

This one is near me. Looks hellish

I like the way google maps has used the dainty little cocktail glass icon for that particular establishment

Can we add pubs under railway arches?

[quote=doris5000 ]This one is near me. Looks hellish
I like the way google maps has used the dainty little cocktail glass icon for that particular establishment

It's telling that the building to the left is the local police station

That entire street could've doubled for west Baltimore before they tore down all the high rises.

EDIT

In a weird quirk, one random point in the street still has the old Google street view

Pre high rise demolition: https://goo.gl/maps/tJxW9JyQPDT2

Post high rise demolition: https://goo.gl/maps/fgbfJ3nR4xE2

Used to work in this one, the Gade & Goose, Hemel Hempstead.

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Not the period of my life I look back on with the most fondness I must say.

*shudder*

Pubs under railway bridges? Sharkeys in Glasgow for one.

We went to one of the in-laws engagement party at this rat hole in Leeds in the 80's once when it was called The Sphinx...

[url= http://www.closedpubs.co.uk/yorkshire/leeds_ls11_cottingleyarms.html ]The Sphinx[/url]

...and we had to fight our way out at the end of the night when the locals got a bit lairy. Put the women and kids in the first taxi's to turn up, then had to fend them off like indians around a wagon train until more taxi's could get there. Interesting!

Pubs under railway bridges? Sharkeys in Glasgow for one.

And from the other side of the divide, the brazen heid, in part anyway

The Gaiety in Chappeltown, Leeds? Sounds quite nice. Roof not flat. Drinks served through a small hole in the strong mesh that fenced in the bar area. Like being in the zoo, in a dangerous animals enclosure. Gone now...

I worked just down the street from this in Glasgow and always knew it as the Albion Way but it seems to latterly have been the Woodville Airms. Either way, I believe it is now shut and possibly demolished.

Flat roof and no windows. No windows, what does that say about the aspirations of the clientele?

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I've been in a few of the Glasgow windowless places too. I did wonder why a lot had no, or minimal windows. I didn't find it remotely intimidating. Honest!

That pub above looks like someone has looked at the architectural delight that is O'Briens in Stretford Precinct (across the road from the Drum) and thought 'that is truly beautiful! How could we possibly improve on that? I know.... lets lose the windows!"

[img] https://www.yell.com/static/image/819bfcbd-552b-4c1e-93fd-99c77a75dd17_image_jpeg [/img]

The crown in Stockport is under railway arches under the viaduct and that's a belting pub.

Spent a year living about five stories up from this place - Hyde Park flats, sheffield. They sold loaves of white bread behind the bar, and I remember the angles weren't quite right somehow. But that could have been me.

balls, posted park hill pub not hyde park. It was this one but cant make it embed

https://goo.gl/images/L9c5P7

jonnytheleyther - Member
The crown in Stockport is under railway arches under the viaduct and that's a belting pub.

I think that one's gone now too.

Billy Greens in Collyhurst was my local when I worked at May's Pawnbrokers round the corner.

You could buy anything in there.
I bought a brand new mattress, still in the packaging once, they even delivered it and gave me a lift home.
I'd regularly get approached by people asking me if I knew the combination to the safe at work and would I be interested in earning a few quid.

No the crown is still going strong thankfully.

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There's a pub just along the road from me, called The Kingfisher, and it has all the hallmarks of a pub built to a brewery design, like some in that article, and while it's on a fairly busy road that was a major trunk route, the A350, up until a few years ago, it's surrounded by a number of housing estates that I think date from around the same period:

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It's recently undergone a fair bit of refurbishment, and it's always pretty busy, plenty of people sit outside, and because it's only a few minutes walk from the industrial estate where I used to work, it's popular with people who get an hour for lunch, or for a quick pint after work.
It's a good mate of mines' local as well, he lives about a two minute walk away, so he's often there with a few mates for footy.

The Gaiety in Chappeltown, Leeds? Sounds quite nice. Roof not flat. Drinks served through a small hole in the strong mesh that fenced in the bar area. Like being in the zoo, in a dangerous animals enclosure. Gone now...

first time i went to Leeds, i was going to a rave at the West Indian Centre in Chapeltown. Got the train over, hit a few pubs, jumped in a cab and asked him to take us to the venue. He pulled up at the side of a grassy field bit, pointed at a building 50 yards away and said 'that's it over there. I'm not going into Chapeltown, just walk across this field'.

You know you've picked a lively venue when you can't even get a cab to take you there

I give you The Broadsword in Tillydrone, Aberdeen. Tried to buy pot in there once, and never again. At that time I lived in an even worse estate and was well used to dealing with violent, drug addled weirdos.

https://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/fp/news/local/two-men-charged-with-attempting-to-murder-three-people-at-city-bar/