The Raven
The Raven
81-85 Renfield Street
Glasgow
What is it: Another newcomer to the city centre, The Raven replaces the old-school Bay Horse pub and promises smoked food, craft beer, cask ale and sports. As you enter you realise the place is much bigger than you first thought. The decor is simple and stripped back and the space works well, great for big groups or if you want to just hide in the corner with a pint and a paper.
Interesting fact: The bar's name comes from a poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. First published in 1845, the poem is noted for its musicality, language and supernatural atmosphere. It's about a talking raven's visit to a bereft lover, telling the story of the man's slow fall into madness.
Verdict: It's great to see this part of town starting to see some life again because it was in a bad way for quite a while. I can tell this place is part of a chain but to the regular punter this is a cool independent bar, so the guys at MacLay Inns pub group must be doing a good job. Yes, they are going along with the current trends but they do it well and at least it's not just another aimless bar with no thought behind it.
Drinks: Good solid selection of beers, ales, wines, cocktails and spirits. I had a Midnight Sun by the William Bros brewery for £3.50.
Food: Classic American is the best way to describe the menu. All the meats, chicken and ribs are slow cooked over woodchips for up to 12 hours. I really enjoyed a chilli dog with fried onions, gherkin, beef chilli and cheese for £7.
Price: Good prices for the city centre: pints from £2.80.
Alfresco: Couldn't see any area out the back, but why go outside when there is so much meat and beer inside?
Children: Kid friendly and a great wee menu for them.
Avoid if: You are watching your waistline.
Perfect for: Meeting up after work on a Friday with colleagues for a few craft beers.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article