This arty pub hits the write note.. so pop in for a jar and fantastic food

Pub Spy has seen a lot of things in decades of visiting Scotland’s boozers but this really was a first – scaffolding, inside a pub.

The Bell Jar has become an arty enclave on the south side of the city, hidden away on a Govanhill street corner.

A much-maligned part of the city, it houses Glasgow’s most culturally diverse demographic and has become popular with those of an alternative ilk.

Like the Calton, where Pub Spy has visited and been impressed by many new bars, there’s an authenticity about Govanhill’s emergence as one of the city’s favour ite spots for skint creative types.

There are record shops on Victoria Road, an organic supermarket, a cafe for refugee and migrant women and Glasgow’sg only LGBT bookshop. Yet the old men’s I r i sh boozers, Indian grocers and long- l ived ice cream shops remain a f ixture. It doesn’t feel like gentrification. Not yet anyway.

The Bell Jar – named after the Sylvia Plath novel – has had various past incarnations. Now it’s full of hipsters wearing second-hand, mass-produced, 1990s patterned jumpers and shell-suits that no self-respecting arty type would have gone near at the time. These skint creatives are an ironic crowd, see.

The rain was coming down like stair rods when we called in and, as the doors swung open on a Friday night, Pub Spy was hit with a warm, inviting vibe. This is how a neighbourhood pub should feel. It’s a traditional bar with contemporary design f lourishes and bold art prints – fans of indie band Teenage Fanclub might find something of interest on the walls here.

What sets The Bell Jar apart from Sparklehorse, its sister joint on the other side of the city, is the food. The place was going like Glasgow Fair Friday when Pub Spy called in, with more than a few teachers toasting their February mid-term break.

We ordered a few dishes from the small- plates menu and, even with half the pub seemingly putting orders in at the same time, delicious plates of ox cheek, calamari and rosemary potatoes arrived swiftly.

The Bell Jar is a tight squeeze… even without scaffolding. The bar server quipped that it’s holding the ceiling up and Pub Spy laughed nervously, before heading for the door.

Let’s hope it holds a while yet. Vibey boozers in inauspicious ’ hoods serving food as good as this real ly are few and far between.