HELENSBURGH
Helensburgh is a small town on the river Clyde with easy access from Glasgow by train (25 miles).
Helensburgh is a small town on the river Clyde with easy access from Glasgow by train (25 miles).
Helensburgh has stations so access to Glasgow and the towns of the Highlands is easy. It is also the starting place of The John Muir Trail.
John Logie Baird the first man to transmit pictures on TV was born here. Hill House designed by Charles Rennie Macintosh is open to the public.
Come out of the Helensburgh Central station and turn left walking along East Princess St turn right and down Maitland St then left at main road (East Clyde St) and walk on to next corner where there is The Argyll Bar. Leaving here walk back along the main road, cross two roads and see the river on the left. In this next block is The Royal Bar. Continue along and go up second on the left, James St to find The Logie Baird on the right. Return to main road and keep walking along to The Clyde Bar in the middle of the next block. Then further along four blocks is The Commodore.
Time to return to the town. Walk back along and turn up to the left (Glasgow St) to reach West Princess St and walk along through three crossroads to turn down James St at the next junction to The Henry Bell (opposite The Logie Baird). Then back up to West Princess St and across the road on the right is The Ashton. Now return to the station where opposite the entrance is The Station Bar.
PUB FACTS
Eight mostly, really nice pubs half of which sell real ale - Ashton, Argyle, Henry Bell and The Commodore.
Best outside seating is The Commodore and it is also the only one that can take advantage of the river views.
Conversation in pubs is often about pensions
information sites
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Books on Beer
A selection of recommended books covering all aspects of beer and brewing. There are books on the history of beer and others on different styles of beer.
For example
An Inebriated History of Britain by Peter Haydon
Amber, Gold & Black by Martyn Cornell
Brew Britannia by Jessica Boak & Ray Bailey
The Story of the Pint by Martyn Cornell
Miracle Brew by Pete Brown
Built to Brew by Lynn Pearson
And many more
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Scottish Pub Crawls
Craig Stevenson and John MacKay have used their bus passes to good effect. They have toured the towns and cities of Scotland visiting pubs. They recount their adventures in a series of books:
The Auldest Boozers in Town
The Cheap Way Round
Still Goin’
Inn Aff The Bar
Goin’ Roon The Edge
Mud, Sweat and Beers
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Books on Pubs
A selection of recommended books on pubs and their history. There are books on the social history of pubs and the design of pubs through the ages.
There are also books on visiting pubs and ones recommending pubs to visit.
CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide
Death of the English Pub by Christopher Hutt
Brewers, Brands and the Pubs in their Hands by Tony Thornton
Licensed to Sell by Brandwood, Davidson & Slaughter
And many more
The Argyll Bar
The Argyll Bar is a three roomed small but excellent bar. The serving counter is on the left wall serving an area of floor and bar stools. Opposite this is a lounge area with banquette seating and rectangular tables with chairs. The decor is plush shades of dark green on seating, walls and carpet. Through from the bar is a similarly decorated small room.
Have a pint here
Real ale: Doombar; Bowland Gold
Heavy: Bellhaven Best
Lager: Coors; Stella; Carling
Cider: Strongbow Guinness
Pub Jukebox:
Alcohol themed music to listen to while you browse.
beer drinkers and hell raisers - ZZ Top
The Royal Bar
The Royal Bar has booths either side of the door. The servery is on the middle of the right-hand side curving round at the end nearest the door. There is tiled flooring from door up to end of the wooden counter. Beyond this is a lounge area with wooden flooring and several booths on each side of the room. Directly opposite the counter is a fire with seating and small tables to either side of it. There is a nautical theme in the decoration.
Have a pint here
Heavy: Belhaven Best
Lager: Fosters; Tennent’s; Red Stripe
Cider: Strongbow + dark Fruits Guinness
PLACES TO VISIT WITH PUBTRAILS
The towns and villages highlighted on this web site have a wide variety of pubs and beers in them. All of the places are great to visit, whether for a day or longer, and most have tourist attractions for all of the family.
There is a large variety of pubs throughout the different towns shown below. Some you may wish never to visit again but even discovering these can be interesting. There are pubs that you would not take your wife into. While some you could not take your girlfriend into. A few you would not take either into. However, most of the pubs are very pleasant.
HOME MAP of places visited
Alnwick Ambleside Anstruther Bakewell Bamburgh Barnard Castle Bath Berwick upon Tweed Birnam & Dunkeld Bourton on the Water Bowness on Windermere Bridge of Allan Chester Chichester Dunblane Dunoon Edinburgh Ely Fort William Glasgow Gourock Greenock Helensburgh Inverness Kelso Keswick Knaresborough Largs Linlithgow Lyme Regis Melrose Montrose Newton Stewart North Berwick Norwich Oban Pebbles Penzance Portree Pitlochry Quorn Richmond Rothesay St Andrews Seahouses Seend Shrewsbury Skipton Stirling Stratford-upon-Avon Stockton Heath Whitby Windemere Whitstable York
The Logie Baird now The Dapper Dug
The Logie Baird is a large bar in a converted cinema and part of The Smith & Jones chain. The door is in the centre of the building and has dining style tables on a carpeted floor either side of the door. This opens out into a large area with wooden floor and a mixture of table sizes with considerable standing area near the bar. Low ceiling and low lighting. news
Have a half pint
Heavy: Bitter and Twisted; Caledonia Best
Lager: Tennent’s; Heverlee; Schielhallion; Menabrea
Cider: Magners Guinness
PUB QUIZ
Who created the fictional Blandings Castle?
Answer at foot of page
The Clyde Bar ★
The Clyde Bar has the outside wall painted as a saltire. The front of the bar looks small but it is large inside. There is a front lounge/bar immediately inside the entrance with colourful banquette seating around both sides. The small servery is in front to the left of the front room. The seating area is narrower but deeper into the room on the right while to the left it is in front of the servery and runs down the along the windows. There are small round tables on either side of the room with the walls and ceiling decorate by newspapers instead of the usual wall paper. Then hung on top of this on the walls and ceiling are autographed pictures of music and film celebrities. Bar has over 100 malt whisky available
Beyond the front room is a second small servery with a couple of booths opposite it. Further into the pub is third area with the same colourful seating as the front room and also with news-papered walls. The pictures in this room are of Beano and Topper comic front pages. This then opens out into a large dark performance/dance, area with low ceiling, which also has two pool tables. Beer garden
Have a pint here
Heavy: Belhaven best; East Coast IPA
Lager: Staroperaman Stella; Tennent’s; Carling
Cider: Strongbow
The Commodore Inn ★
The Commodore Inn is part of a Travelodge Hotel and as such has food and function driven trade but still manages to cater for the passing or staying drinker. The entrance is back from the road and there is large beer garden, with views across the water, either side of the door. This can get busy on sunny days. Once inside the servery is in front of you and then curving round to the left. There is plenty of room for standing around the servery. The whole area is two large open plan room, either side of the servery, with imaginatively placed partitions giving the impression of more intimate smaller rooms. To the right of the servery are areas with small round tables chairs, some armchairs, for sitting and drinking although bar meals can be eaten here.
To the left of the servery is a more planned dining area with a variety of larger sized a tables and chairs. Beyond this is another dining area. There are some large tall tables dotted around the areas. The tables are spread out so that no groups are sitting close together.
The floor around the wooden servery is of stone while the areas either side are carpeted. The ceiling and parts of the decor have old worn wooden beams.
CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2025
Have a pint of two here
Real ale: Lia Fail; Doombar; Absoutely Finest Pale Ale (Madness); Deuchars
Heavy: Joker
Lager: Estrella ; Peroni; Stella; Tennent’s; Carling
Cider: Cornish Orchard; Thatcher’s Gold Guinness
The Henry Bell
The Henry Bell is a large Wetherspoons with dark decor following a Rennie MacIntosh theme of squares and rectangles. There are three distinct areas – the front of the shop around the entrance with dining tables; then the servery along the left wall and a mixture of tall tables and dining sized tables. Beyond this is another large area with dining tables leading to an outside courtyard
Regular in Good Beer Guide, including 2020, 2021
Have a pint here
Real ale: Abbot; Doom bar; Radgie Gadgie; Southern Summit; Lancaster Black; SOD
Heavy: John Smith
Lager: Coors; Stella; Carling; Tuberg; San Miguel; Heineken;
Tennent’s; 1664; Innes & Gunn lager; Devils Backbone
Cider: Magners; Thatchers; Strongbow;Strongbow Dark fruits Guinness
The Ashton ★
The Ashton is a small one roomed bar making use of space to have a small booth area up a few steps on the left-hand side and a darts corridor at end of the room. The bar counter curves out of the middle of the right-hand wall. This leaves some standing room and a tall table between the counter end and the window. Opposite the counter is some banquette seating and four small tables
Regular in Good Ber Guide (CAMRA) including 2023, 2024, 2025
Have a pint here
Real ale: Jarl (Fyne Ales); Belhaven IPA; Belhaven Grand Slam
Heavy: Belhaven Best
Lager: Tennent’s; Stella; Carling
Cider: Thatcher’s; Strongbow Guinness
The Station Bar
The Station Bar is a traditional old bar which has been tastefully modernised but managing to keep a ‘bar’ feel to it. It has light brown banquette seating by the windows either side if the door. The seating continues up the right hand side while the servery starts half way up the left hand side. The old wooden servery is still there and the floor is all wood but the room is bright with light from the windows. There is plenty of standing room around the counter and a couple of stools. 5 TV screens dominate the walls. Through from this room is a small back room with a pool table.
Have a pint here
Heavy: John Smith
Lager: Fosters; Amstel; Tennent’s; Red stripe
Cider: Strongbow ; Strongbow Dark fruits Guinness
“Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker.”
— Ogden Nash in ‘Reflections on breaking ice’ (1931)
ANSWER: P G Wodehouse