The Halcyon bar is a bit off beat. It's also a bit off the beaten track, sitting as it does alongside a spaghetti junction of motorways at the Charing Cross end of wild and wooly Sauchiehall Street.
On the site of the old Bar Jedi, the former saddomagnet's elaborate frontage has been consigned to a black hole by the new owner.
Those who have ventured into the shadowy depths of the bar in its previous life will think that a miraculous force has been at work.
Now full of light and more spacious, the bar's mood has changed from sulky to serene.
Halcyon is a hard bar to categorise, but what it is not is a style bar as we know it.
Walking in off the street, there are echos of an oldfashioned bevy shop, with a traditional bar and gantry.
But the music is definitely left-field.
Then there are the traditional pub's captain's chairs and vinyl banquette seats beside swankier, style bar-type tables.
It's also puggy-less, which makes for a nice change from the greedy money makers inside the bigger chain pubs and bars.
Halcyon's makeshift look is a result of the private owner's budget limits, but also of his personal philosophy of substance over style.
This is Hamish McClery's first venture into bar ownership, but obviously not his first venture into a bar.
And he's clearly not impressed by the way funkier places have been copycatted over the last 20 years.
Nowadays, it seems that the last thing a style bar has is any glimmer of style.
Halcyon is back to basics with a chilled-out, personality-based ideal. His seasoned bar staff, drawn from previous working relationships at Glasgow's 13th Note, ``have a good bit of life experience and personality''.
``What I don't have is a lot of teenagers working here, '' McClery adds.
Which will undoubtedly please the core age group of around mid-20s to mid-40s.
And you won't have to deal with a slice of lemon in your whisky, or cooler-than-you glacial stares from wannabe hipster punters.
Food is served at lunchtimes and the menu is brief but not boring with salads, pannini, baguettes and burgers.
With fillings like ham and homemade orange chutney, real chips and with the food freshly made to order it's miles above the scampi and sweetcorn efforts of other Glasgow outfits.
Halcyon isn't big, which makes the beer garden at the back, safely away from the motorway fumes even more of a bargain, especially during our recent sparkling and warm summer weather.
In fact, unless Hurricane Isabel reappears over here, the winter won't stop some alcohol-insulated patrons from stopping out at weekends.
Very much a music-based bar, there are DJs lurking in the corner on weekend nights, but you won't have your ears blasted out.
More retro than mainstream pubs, the music tends towards soul and funk, dub and hip-hop.
It's definitely got a pre-club vibe, but it's fairly down-tempo.
Halcyon means peaceful, gentle and calm a place to wind down.
This might also describe the Halcyon crowd those who have calmed down a bit after kicking up a storm in their past, but who aren't quite yet up for a night in the company of a karaoke machine either.
Open: Noon until midnight; seven days a week.
Food: Noon until 3 pm, seven days a week Drinks: Pint of lager, £2.20; spirit and mixer, £2.20; glass of wine £2.50.
Rating: Four out of five
Details
0141 204 1616
Halcyon isn't big, which makes the beer garden at the back, safely away from the motorway fumes even more of a bargain, especially during our recent sparkling and warm summer weather.
In fact, unless Hurricane Isabel reappears over here, the winter won't stop some alcohol-insulated patrons from stopping out at weekends.
Very much a music-based bar, there are DJs lurking in the corner on weekend nights, but you won't have your ears blasted out.
More retro than mainstream pubs, the music tends towards soul and funk, dub and hip-hop.
It's definitely got a pre-club vibe, but it's fairly down-tempo.
Halcyon means peaceful, gentle and calm a place to wind down.
This might also describe the Halcyon crowd those who have calmed down a bit after kicking up a storm in their past, but who aren't quite yet up for a night in the company of a karaoke machine either.
Open: Noon until midnight; seven days a week.
