Just off Trongate a little off the beaten track under a rail bridge on London Road - you can find one of the hippest underrated bars in Glasgow. A small, intimate venue, there’s not much to it from the outside, a real minimalistic approach - but if you’re a music fan you’ll be drawn in. Tributes to bands old and new; local and international adorn the walls and play through the speaker through carefully curated playlists. If you’re anyway involved in the Glasgow music scene, you’ll have heard of this place by now - if you don’t already drink there - it’s called Vinyl Bar. If you don’t see any of the latest and greatest from Glasgow bands drinking in the pub you’ll no doubt see them behind the bar, as it would seem the venue employs half of the Glaswegian music scene. Speaking to the owner of Vinyl Bar, John Irvine told us the origin story of the venue, he said: “So the idea behind Vinyl Bar didn’t start in the pub we have now, it started in Cathedral House - we decided to launch Vinyl up there. “The inspiration for the concept came from Gary Watson, the lead singer of the Lapelles. Gary, who we unfortunately lost, would always talk about a bar in Glasgow where musicians could go and hang out - a similar idea to what the Spaghetti Factory was way back before he was born. “So Vinyl started in Cathedral House with that idea, of course the landlord decided to sell the hotel so we had to look for a new premises. “Ideally I always wanted to be where we are now - with St Luke's and the Barrowlands just around the corner - it’s the ideal place to have a music bar. Of course we opened just before Covid and that set us back as it did everybody at the time - so we had to start all over again once restrictions were lifted. But now hopefully we’ve crossed all those obstacles and we’re now getting a reputation as a good chill music bar.” Based on the site of a former African restaurant, Vinyl has a very relaxed, comfortable, and inviting vibe. Something I don’t believe is shared in contemporary venues like Stereo, Nice N Sleazys, or even Broadcast before it flooded last year. Vinyl Bar is a lot more welcoming and friendly to the outsider than these other spots, it’s a real Glaswegian spot where you can strike up a conversation or make a pal before you’ve even had a chance to order a pint. The atmosphere of the bar is conducive to this, it’s small of course but it’s all open - small tables lit by candlelight sit side by side across the floor and couches in square formations all invite the punters to sit and chat to each other - something you don’t get a lot of in new venues anymore. John continues: “What I love about our place is the demographic range. It’s full of young people to older and in between - they all mix together to talk about music. It’s a great mix of people I have in there. “Going forward we want to do more music things, we want to use that stage in the bar to be champions of young up and coming musicians. Somewhere they can be showcased. Somewhere they can bring their mums and dads and pals and just get used to playing live. “We just want to be about music. We try not to be too up ourselves about it.” Despite building up a loyal following of punters from across the Glasgow music scene and beyond, it’s not been an easy road for the team We started as an indie music bar, with some tunes from all the way back to music in the fifties and sixties but we’re trying not to limit ourselves to that - though we might draw the line at boy band stuff. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, there’s a place for all music here. We’ve got a long way to go, but I can see us getting there now. “Gary Watson really needs to be credited for being the inspiration behind all of this, it’s just a shame he isn’t here to see it.”