Every pub in Glasgow: The Hielan Jessie
The Hielan Jessie on Gallowgate looks much older than it is. Occupying the ground floor of an eighteenth-century building, in the 1960s there was a smaller bar on the corner called the Regal. Bars with such a narrow frontage are now very rare in Glasgow, and the Hielan Jessie now occupies the full width of the house. Inside, the pub is cosy. We are (once again) in covid restrictions and there is reduced capacity, so every remaining seat is taken at four on a Tuesday afternoon. When I used to come to pubs like this as a student, I’d be the youngest customer by several decades. Now I’m old enough to fit in. It seems to be a real community pub. Elsewhere in the east end, and not just there, pubs can be full of solitary men. Not here. Everyone seems to know each other. After a pint and a wee dram (Highland Park if you insist) I am warm again after walking into town on the coldest day of the year so far. I think the Hielan Jessie would win the award for “pub that feels most like somewhe
