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Old Glasgow Pubs by john gorevan

 

Ye Old Inn.

1 Chapel Street, Rutherglen.

Ye Old Inn

Ye Olde Inn had an established date of 1650. Before television and radio customers at the old Inn told stories and tales that were passed down to the next generation of locals, one such story was that Ye Olde Inn had witnessed on May, 1679, when armed horsemen rode into the town and fixed to the cross a Declaration and Testimony of the true Presbyterian Church, an act of revolt which led to the bloody battles of Drumclog and Bothwell Brig.

Another story that was told within the thick brick walls of Ye Olde Inn, was a gentleman called James Philipshill a cooper, who in 1668 was banned by the Magistrates from all brewers and sellers of drink in the Burgh. A prohibitory order to this effect was issued with the humane proviso, and the very obvious loophole for abuse, that his wife and bairns might buy drink for the use of house and family. the penalty for serving Philipshill with drink was £5.

The Inn was once both tavern and dairy with its own cow. Thus a demand for a pint and a pint could conveniently cover both domestic and personal requirements.

That famous old Rutherglen custom of baking sour cakes on St Luke's eve is almost sure to have been observed in Ye Olde Inn. The tradition demanded the services of six elderly ladies who prepared the cakes and passed them to their Queen for toasting. The cakes distributed to passer-by.

For many years Rutherglen Main Street was where you could buy and trade Clydesdale horses, on market day. Rutherglen fair was another important event in the burgh, this holding of street fairs came to an end as increasing traffic put a stop to it.

Over the years many families have traded in Ye Olde Inn, in the 1870s the inn was called The OddFellows Arms Inn, it then had an established date of 1836 ,over the years this date seems to have got older by nearly 200 years. The occupier of the old premises was grocer Thomson, he kept a badger, later the old establishment was passed to the Mr Shearer, he was a contractor and lived in the premises. In 1879 John McDonald took over as licensee, thirteen years later the inn was combined with the Glendronach Distillery Stores.

Ye Old Inn 50s

Ye Olde Inn. 1948.

In the late part of the 1890s Patrick Brennan was landlord and licensee and afterwards Mr F J Doran. The licence was transferred to the Murray family which was still in the same family circle. Mrs Mary Murray worked in the bar when she was 18 years of age, she and her husband then ran the pub until it was demolished in the 1960s.

Four large whisky barrels of early vintage used to sit on the gantry, apart from this there were nothing of historic interest left inside the bar apart from the large wooden table that sat in one of the parlour's, it must have been made inside the old inn as it was to big and bulky to fit through the windows or any of the doors of the premises. A mystery that baffled customers and residents of Rutherglen for many many years.

A new pub was found for the Murray family which still stands today and called the Fairway.

End.

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