YOU know you've been spending too much time drinking in Glasgow's city limits when you get lost following simple directions to a pub in the centre of town. Getting off the bus on Hope Street, I'd been sent a text message telling me to hook up with an old buddy who had found her way to Blue Dog in Glasgow city centre.
Slap-bang somewhere in the middle of the city's grid system, this piano bar has been the buzz-word on the lips of many a discerning twentysomething since it opened last year. However, most discerning twentysomethings obviously have a firmer grasp of the city streets than do. There I was wandering around, barking protests down my mobile to Fran, adamant that if she had a bottle of wine on the table at 151 St Vincent Street, then she was doing well. From where I was standing it looked like a legal practice and probably didn't do too great a line in bar snacks or bevvy for that matter. After roaming around West Regent Street, West Campbell Street, Wellington Street, Hope Street and Bath Street hoping to find a pool of blue light, which I assumed the place would be bathed in, I eventually stumbled upon Blue Dog. It was on West George Street. And the light was, confusingly, purple. But Fran was there, armed with a bottle of house red. We'd both skipped tea, so decided to grab a few bar snacks at Blue Dog. Nae luck. The dug was all out of scran. Instead, the helpful bar steward rustled up a wee dish of complementary strawberries, raspberries and grapes. It wasn't quite potato skins and it wasn't even a bag of Burts chilli and lemon crisps (brilliant for grazing on with a beer), but it did feel a wee bit sophisticated. Which is exactly what I'd been told Blue Dog was all about - dimly lit, open late (3am) with a piano player providing something more conducive to mid-week bar chat than the ear-bleeding muzak you'd find at the likes of the nearby Yates's or Wetherspoons. At 8pm, there were a smattering of trendy punters sampling various tricks from the eight-page drinks' menu. Fran's just back from living in London, where drinking after work is a prerequisite for a job in office-land. So when she said Blue Dog looked a little cheaply-done and suggested that the curtains and lights at the back hinted at a possible appearance from a pole dancer, I thought she wasn't best pleased. But the pianist served to rub off the ruff (geddit?) edges and Blue Dog filled up. And we were raving about the place after a wee man in his 50s joined us for the next half an hour. One of this place's master strokes is staying open late. The other is the pianist. But just when it was busying up, a wee magician called Terry came in, politely introduced himself and went on to show us some of the most dazzling trickery we'd ever seen. Nearly a fortnight later, I'm still trying to work out how on earth his mobile phone could know what card I'd picked. And I've no idea how Fran's ring ended up in his jacket pocket. But I'm willing to bet that even Terry could have got lost in the city centre grid if he didn't know where he was meant to be going. Or maybe it's just me. Blue Dog 151 West George Street, GlasgowTel: 0141 229 0707 Opening hours: Sun-Thurs: 4pm-2am,Fri-Sat: 4pm-3am Pianist: Tues-Thurs: 11pm-1am, Fri: 5.308.30pm, Sat: 8pm-midnight Drinks: Pint from £2.70, bottle beer from £2, cocktails from £3, vodka dash £3, coffee £1.60 Food: Tapas when available Rating: Three out of five
