Latest news with #TheClansman
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
JONATHAN BROCKLEBANK: My round? Sorry if I sound mean, but with beer at £5 a pint I fear it may now be every man for himself
Anyone conversant with pub culture will know the kind. This breed of drinker knows who they are too – shameless freeloaders. Some of them even admit as much with a chuckle. They are Tam, perched on his stool at The Clansman in the Scottish sitcom Still Game – ever thirsty, ever eyeing opportunities for others to finance the quenching. I've known many Tams and, on occasion, have become more fixated than I should in the course of an evening down the boozer on their modus operandi. I can't let it go. How can they do this to their friends? Why so sleekit? Where is their sense of honour? I am talking about the ones who disappear to the loo when they sense the next round of drinks is looming and return, minutes later, to find their next pint waiting for them. 'Oh, grand. Cheers everyone.' The ones who quaff away for hours at their companions' expense and then, as expectant eyes turn to them, suddenly remember there's somewhere they have to be. 'Later, chaps. First round's on me next time.' I've seen them finally cornered and marvelled at their gall as they ask if anyone can spot them 20 quid to get the next round in. We have all met a character like Tam from sitcom Still Game, who constantly tries to avoid paying for a drink I've watched that twenty cross the table – sometimes it has even come from my wallet – to land in the pub leech's paw, and I've known in that second the donor will never see it again. The cardinal rule of my nights spent in licensed establishments was never to be that guy. Spend more than you planned if need be. Just avoid being thought of as him. Drink with integrity. Take the hit on a round that wasn't strictly yours to get stung for rather than allow suspicions to ferment that you are not a team player. I was aware, of course, that this plays straight into the freeloaders' hands. They stick close to people who don't want to be like them. This certainly, was the game as I understood it two or three decades ago when my visits to pubs were more frequent and my staying power was at its peak. Alas, today I am struggling with the rules. Do I even want to be a team player? The average price for a pint of beer, we learn this week, has passed the £5 mark. And that's the cheap stuff. If your mates are on Peronis or Morettis or BrewDog's Punk IPA – as those I meet in pubs invariably seem to be – we are talking upwards of £6. That £20 note was good for six drinks or more back when I was getting in the rounds. Today it will score you three Punk IPAs and you may as well put the few pennies change in the charity box, please, barman. In the circumstances, are rounds even still a thing? Shouldn't it be every man for themselves? What is the modern etiquette now that the sums are getting serious? I was wondering this even as I walked in the door of a Glasgow city centre watering hole a few weeks ago. Lots of people I knew were going to be there. There was an excellent chance – because I knew them to be kind-hearted souls – that someone would offer to buy me a drink within seconds. What is the right answer? In truth, the situation requires more investigation, but pub environments, I find, are not conducive to the over-thinking of responses to simple questions like 'do you want a drink?' But let us, in our sobriety, over-think it here. Now, you have very generously extended to me the offer of a drink. Let me tell you my problem with that. I've only just arrived. For all I know, you are already in a round with six or seven people. If I accept your offer then I am – according to the etiquette with which I am familiar but, admittedly, may be out of date now – subsumed into this round, which entails certain obligations on my part. In days gone by, this would not have worried me because I was either capable of drinking six or seven pints or past caring by pint four or five. But you will accept that times have changed. You see before you today the enfeebled husk of the drinker I once was. Let me be brutally frank: I'm out of here after pint two or three. I hope you are beginning to see my difficulty. Suppose for a moment I were to say yes. Half an hour from now, I would be dutybound to repay your kindness with my own offer of the refreshment of your choice from the bar. But what if Tom, Dick, Harry, John, Paul, George and Ringo have empty glasses too? In the current climate, Peronis costing what they do, my tolerance for them being what is, I would find my presumed obligation to them, as fellow members of 'the round', vexatious. And here, friend, is the other dimension to my quandary. Long ago, when I thought I knew my way around drinking culture, I made a promise to myself that I would never be that guy – the one that I am in grave danger of becoming if I accept your hospitality, keep my head down for round two and leg it as soon as that glass is drained. So, you see, I am caught on the horns of a moral and financial dilemma. You ask me if I want a drink. I say that is far too complicated a question for a guy who has just walked in the door. If I know anything about pubs, it is that the drinker you assaulted with this stream of verbiage would have started talking to somebody else – anybody else – five minutes ago. So, actually, what I said was: 'No thanks, you're fine, mate. I'll get my own. I'm only staying for a couple.' But might the dawn of the £5 and £6 pint be an appropriate juncture to give the more ponderous answer a fair hearing? Is the eyewatering expense of getting a round in – coupled with the collapse of my generation's ability to last the pace – forcing us to walk a pub protocol tightrope? I cannot ever be Tam the sponger from Still Game and. Nor, I find, can I still be the willing dupe team player who says 'hey, who's counting anyway?' It turns out I am counting. It was, then, with an every-man-for-himself bearing that I approached the bar and sorted myself out with a £6 Moretti. Did I feel good about it? Nope. Did it seem churlish, petty, anti-social, an affront to the rich social culture, the sense of camaraderie that the pub round once engendered for me? Yup. But, like I say, I no longer know how the game is played. And drink is too expensive – and I can hold too little of it – for occasional visitors like me to leave the pub with honour. I skulked away after three or four, wondering if I should write to a problem page. How does one negotiate a night in the pub? As the freeloader? The patsy? The standoffish loner? None of them work for me.
Daily Record
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Look who it isnae as Still Game star Boabby heads for West Lothian theatre stage
Gavin Mitchell who's best known as Boabby the Barman is heading to Bathgate A Bathgate audience will get the chance to question a Still Game star when he takes to the stage in the town later this month. Look Who It Isnae – An Audience with Gavin Mitchell, will see the 60-year-old actor offer up behind-the-scenes stories and insight from his years of working in theatre, film, TV and radio. Gavin is instantly recognisable thanks to his role as the acerbic Boabby the Barman in the hit Scottish sitcom TV series. Hailing from the north of Glasgow and an area he describes as the 'lovely fishing village of Springburn', Gavin first got into acting almost accidentally through a dare with one of his pals. 'A good mate of mine Iain Muir and I didn't know what we were going to do in life,' Gavin admits. 'He was a joiner but hadn't finished his apprenticeship. I did casual theme painting at the Citizens Theatre and he was doing casual joinery work. "We had the skinny, peely-wally look, with black hair, and Iain was asked to be an extra in the next show. He told me he didn't want to do it, I said' What? I'd love to do that'. So, he said if you do it, I'll do it and we shook hands on it. "So that's how it started and from there on in I learned on the job, I was at the Citizens for four or five years. I was working with Glenda Jackson and Rupert Everett and people like that.' There was a very significant development in the mid-90s when Gavin and the other actors who would eventually find national acclaim as the characters in Still Game, were thrown together for the first time. 'I worked with Ford [Kiernan] and Greg [Hemphill} on a sketch show in 1996 called Pulp Video and that's sort of where the Still Game characters first started. Greg and I played old men in a couple of the sketches, then out of boredom while we were waiting about we just started talking like two old men and making each other laugh, Ford thought there was something in it and wrote a couple of sketches. "Jane McCarry [Isa] was in Pulp Video as well and Sanjeev {Kohli - who played Navid] worked on it as a writer. I was Winston originally. We all kind of met then, almost 30 years ago.' Although the last Still Game television show was recorded around seven years ago Gavin admits he is still often called a pr**k by passers-by, an term often-used by Jack and Victor when greeting Boabby in The Clansman. 'It's always done with a fondness,' he said. 'It's kind of weird as Still Game only took about two weeks out of my year. Despite the fact I'd been acting for about 15 years before that and all the work I've done since, I've done all sorts, but I'll always been known for Boabby.' Gavin has taken on a variety of roles over the years, from film, telly and radio right through to opera. He's been playing Humphrey Bogart's role in Cassablanca on and off for 15 years, a role he will revive again at this year's Edinburgh Festival. But before that, what can the audience expect when he takes to the stage in Bathgate? 'The show will inevitably talk about Still Game but it will also be about the other side of things,' Gavin revealed. 'How I got there, the people I've worked with throughout the years – including becoming friends with Robin Williams and things like that. There will be loads of anecdotes and stories from over the years. 'I have clips from shows and ads that have never been seen in this country. I have questions that are sent in from celebrities, some I know, some I don't. I've had questions from Chesney Hawkes, Amy McDonald, Susan Boyle and Midge Ure. But my favourite part of the show is the second half when the punters in the crowd get to ask me questions, because you never know what you're going to be asked and what way it's going to go, it's kind of unpredictable.' Look Who It Isnae – An Audience with Gavin Mitchell is at the Reconnect Regal Theatre on Friday, June 27.
Glasgow Times
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
Still Game's 'The Clansman' themed pub to open in Glasgow
HC-One Scotland's Wyndford Locks Care Home in Maryhill has announced the 'grand opening' of its brand-new on-site bar, 'The Clansman'. The new boozer based in the facility will open its doors to residents, families, and guests on Friday, May 16. The watering hole will feature a pool table, a plastic dart board, and a speaker system which will play music. READ MORE: Still Game legend addresses rumours that the iconic show will return as a 'film' READ MORE: Still Game legend announces brand-new exciting Glasgow show Still Game's 'The Clansman' themed pub to open in Glasgow (Image: Newsquest) (Image: Newsquest) It has been named after The Clansman in Still Game, which was also set in Maryhill. In the BBC sitcom, The Clansman is the local pub which is run by Boaby the Barman, who is played by Gavin Mitchell. (Image: Newsquest) A spokesperson for the care home said: "This exciting addition promises to create a lively and inclusive atmosphere for all to enjoy. "The Clansman is thoughtfully equipped with a wide selection of beverages, including soft drinks, alcoholic drinks, non-alcoholic options, and other refreshing choices, catering to diverse tastes." Danielle Cunningham, HC-One Scotland's Wyndford Locks Care Home Manager, added: "We're absolutely delighted to open The Clansman as a vibrant hub for our residents and their loved ones. 'This pub is more than just a place to grab a drink – it's a space where memories are made, laughter is shared, and our community comes together. "We can't wait to see everyone enjoying the games, music, and warm atmosphere."
