Pub with rare early drinks licence closes after 37 years

The Gallowgate pub neighbours Barrowland Park and often saw revellers before gigs and football matches

A Glasgow pub known for its rare licence to sell alcohol at 08:00 has closed after 37 years.

MacKinnnon's in the Gallowgate closed at the end of May with the owners citing health reasons.

The Ross family has run the business since 1987, but it first opened as a pub in 1815.

Its early morning licence allowed patrons to buy a pint with breakfast earlier than 11:00-00:00, the standard licensing hours for pubs in Glasgow.

The owner Margo Ross posted on social media: "We are hanging up our aprons and throwing our sketchers in the bin. It's been a really really difficult decision.

"It's been an (sic) lifetime for us behind that bar. We have worked, sang, laughed, smiled, cried and hugged with so, so many fabulous friends. But it's time to go.

"The memories are in our hearts forever. We want to thank everyone for their friendship and loyalty to our wee business throughout the years."

Glasgow City Council said that, at most, one or two pubs in the city still have a drinks licence earlier than standard licensing laws allow.

The early licences were a legacy of older legislation and operators retained the right to sell alcohol in the morning as the system moved on to the 2005 licensing act.

But early licences have not been issued in Glasgow since new laws came in in 2009.

There were a small number of pubs where early opening was allowed but following a series of reviews, licences were altered to bring most of those premises in line with standard opening hours.

Several pubs in the city centre were recently granted licences which allowed them to extend their opening hours until 01:00 in an effort to stagger late night crowds.