Glasgow-based hospitality group to take over historic Star Bar in city’s Southside

A Glasgow-based hospitality group plans to “invest with care” after taking over a historic pub in the city’s Southside.

The Star Bar on Eglinton Street is set to be acquired by G12 Leisure, which runs The Left Bank in the West End.

The group also recently took over the Category B-listed Brechin’s Bar at Govan Cross.

Since 1892, the Star Bar has occupied the ground floor of its distinctive tenement at Eglinton Toll.

The pub is known for its low-cost three-course lunch, Friday karaoke and weekend live music.

G12 Leisure said it plans to “protect what makes the pub special and invest with care”.

The company is searching for a new general manager and bar supervisor for the Star Bar, which will continue trading as normal throughout the handover.

Jim McLaughlin, director of G12 Leisure, said: “Glasgow’s old pubs are part of the city’s fabric, and too many have been lost.

“At Brechin’s we’re refreshing the pub sympathetically while keeping the doors open, because the regulars matter – and the Star Bar gets exactly the same treatment.

“We’re not here to reinvent it. The regulars and the lunch are staying.

“What we’ll bring is care, investment in the building, and the kind of night-time programming we’ve built at The Left Bank.

“The right general manager will be at the heart of that, so we’re looking for someone who loves a proper pub as much as we do.”