MOSKITO RETURNS
Bath Street favourite set to re-open
AKEY part of the Bath Street bar circuit for decades and perennially popular with the city’s hospitality and entertainment industry workers, Moskito returns under new management and with a radically different look.
After over a year of delays, general manager Ben McLeod tells me they are planning for a July 8 opening, at which point Glasgow may be contemplating exiting level zero restrictions.
A first look tour reveals the basement space has a slick, modern appearance, taking design nods from leading cocktail bars in other major cities while showcasing the existing stone walls and creating new areas.
There’s the occasional artwork or pop culture reference.
The booths have been refreshed, I’m shown the new dynamic lighting system and led into a self-contained bar which will be popular as a late-night lounge.
Ben worked with restaurant chain Yo Sushi, a role that took him to the Middle East. After four years there, married with kids, he was looking for a project to bring him back to Glasgow.
A chance introduction by a pal led to him being invited to lead Moskito into a revised incarnation, “the idea of building something new intrigued me and taking this place back to where it should be”.
I wrote last year about a proposed launch while we were teetering on the brink of the first lockdown. Since then there has been silence.
“We’ve deliberately held back a bit in terms of the big reveal but that will change over the next couple of weeks,” Ben says.
Hospitality openings are rarely carefully considered affairs, you’ll often find work has over-ran and building work is still going on around you as the first drinks are served, or you will return a week later to find the place looks completely different.
Moskito looks like it did on the plans I saw last year but there are some key differences. No dramatic shifts, but there has been time for refinement.
The basement space seems more capable of a daytime existence. Partly this is due to the lighting: “We can change from a dining restaurant to a late-night bar, change the atmosphere. We want people to stay with us”.
The venue will be more food led, with lunch and dinner during the week and some hints at a music led destination brunch at weekends.
Ben adds: “We want to give people a reason to come here.”
He reveals that you can expect “small, shareable plates with influences from around the world. They will be categorised under the headings of earth, sea, land and fire – that last one will be related to how we are finishing the dishes. We’ve installed tandoori ovens in the kitchen and we will be using them in an unusual way”.
There will be a compact cocktail list with the classics alongside the kind of seasonal mixes that will let the team test out smoke bubble and carbonation machines while pondering what infusion to pour.
Maybe we are approaching a point where a new wave of Glasgow bars will start to bring attention to the city. It’s starting to feel that way.
Ben says: “We’ve taken a lot of influences from global leaders in hospitality and put it in the design. Glasgow used to be seen as a market leader for bars, things have stalled a bit while the food scene has developed.
“People are a bit more adventurous in their palate but when it comes to bars people can get a bit stuck in their ways. I’m hoping that we are going to be able to lead the market in the city and be part of an expanded offering. We want the team to have an impact on that and be creative.”
We sit in an empty bar talking about the point when people can meet and hug and dance. Sit at the bar. Stay out until 3am. Ben says “We’ve a neon sign that says “if the walls could talk”.
That’s a nod to the history of Moskito. We’ve all been here over the decades, let our hair down and had fun.
This place won’t be the same as it was, but we still want to give people something to talk about.”