Glasgow’s famous Star Bar, occupying the ground floor of a distinctively wedge-shaped tenement at 537 Eglinton Street, Eglinton Toll, is being acquired by local pub group, G12 Leisure.
The deal, reportedly due to complete by the end of October, will see the Star Bar join the G12 Leisure portfolio alongside The Left Bank on Gibson Street – re-opened earlier this year as a vinyl listening bar and late-night kitchen – and its recently acquired Brechin’s Bar at Govan Cross.
Ahead of the acquisition, G12 is recruiting a new general manager and bar supervisor to lead the Star Bar into its next chapter – but has stressed that the change of ownership will not change what has historically made the pub special.
The Star Bar has sat on Eglinton Toll since 1892 and is known for its loyal regulars, Friday karaoke, weekend live bands and ‘one of the best-value lunches in the city’.
Those three-course lunches will stay on the menu from £6, while the venue will get a ‘light refresh’, and a new night-time programme of live music, DJs and events will be added alongside its existing favourites.
Director of G12 Leisure, Jim McLaughlin, said: “Glasgow’s old pubs are part of the city’s fabric, and too many have been lost.
“At Brechin’s we’re refreshing the pub sympathetically while keeping the doors open, because the regulars matter – and the Star Bar gets exactly the same treatment. We’re not here to reinvent it. The regulars and the lunch are staying.
“What we’ll bring is care, investment in the building, and the kind of night-time programming we’ve built at The Left Bank,” McLaughlin assured.
“The right general manager will be at the heart of that, so we’re looking for someone who loves a proper pub as much as we do.”
Applications for the general manager and bar supervisor roles can be sent to jim@theleftbank.co.uk
