Tag Archives: Johnstone

New Events, a New Pub and a Fantasy Football Competition!

It’s been a while since our last blog post on the popular Renfrewshire Pubs website, but here it is, at long last. As you know the site is run voluntarily and we rely a lot on having the free time to keep it up date. We also rely a lot on the feedback of pub goers, pub owners and Renfrewshire residents to keep us up to date on events they know of, so that we can spread the word. Fortunately there has been a lot of that in recent weeks, so thank you all!

A new pub

We’ve just added a new pub to the website: Bar 5 @ Five on 5 in Paisley. You can find out more on their dedicated Bar 5 page on our site. Having attended a charity night there in recent weeks ourselves, we can personally recommend it is a pub worth a visit.

Events updates

We list hundreds of events on the site, a mixture of recurring weekly events and one off events. Some of those seem to be out of date, while we’ve also heard of others. With that in mind, we’ve trawled through the database and started updating. This has included updates / additions to events for pubs across Renfrewshire including The Anchor Bar, The Brown Bull, The Bankhouse, The Glenleven Inn, Hamishes Hoose, Howwood Inn and more.

More updates will follow. If we’ve not got your event listed, contact us with the details and we’ll add it

Fantasy Football anyone?

As you know, we don’t promote football very often. It’s not that we’re against it, but the volume of it on TV would mean all other events are quickly diluted on our site. However, we did run a Fantasy Football League last year, and we’ve re-opened it for this year!

It’s absolutely free to join and run via the popular http://fantasy.premierleague.com, based on the English Premier League. We don’t offer prizes, but the competition itself does offer some. We simply offer the opportunity to gain bragging rights over your friends!

Everyone is welcome, though it’s best if you’ve a connection to a Renfrewshire Pub or Renfrewshire itself. It help keeps it local.

Head over to the site (http://fantasy.premierleague.com) and create your team. Then visit the leagues section and request to join a private league. The code you’ll need to join our “Renfrewshire Pubs” league is: 846281-210240

Paisley Beer Festival 2012

It’s almost that time of year again when Brewers and their ales from across the UK descend on Paisley Town Hall. Last years festival appeared to be a huge success, so it should be expected that the Paisley Beer Festival 2012 will be bigger and better – particularly as it’s celebrating its 25th Anniversary!

As part of the celebration, the organisers are hoping to feature as many as possible of the beers that appeared at the very first Paisley Beer Festival back in 1986.

Last year saw the biggest turnout yet for the festival, with over 6000 visitors indulging in the tasting of beers from around Scotland, England and beyond. It’s expected that this year will bring with it over 160 different ales.

As with last year, entry costs £5 per person … or £3 if you’re a CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) member, and the festival will run from Wednesday 25th April until Saturday 28th April. Exact times (taken from the official website):

Wed 25th: 5pm – 11pm
Thu 26th: noon – 11pm
Fri 27th: noon – 12am
Sat 28th: noon – 9pm

Renfrewshire Pubs will be heading along to mingle at the Paisley Beer Festival 2012, so we look forward to seeing you there! If you see us, say hi!

For more information, keep up with the official Paisley Beer Festival website: www.paisleybeerfestival.org.uk

RBS 6 Nations 2012 starts this weekend!

It’s that time of year again for some fantastic RBS 6 Nations rugby action. We’ve not heard from many pubs that are showing it yet, but we’ll post updates as and when they let us know. We assume several will be showing the games, so watch this space.

What a fixture list to get us started though, with Scotland v England, followed on Sunday by Ireland v Wales. Certainly worth re-organising the weekend for!

Pubs in Renfrewshire showing the games:

The Cellar Bar, Paisley
The Craig Dhu, Paisley
Gabriels, Paisley
The Viscount, Renfrew

RBS 6 Nations 2012 Fixtures / Results:

For those who don’t already know, or can’t find, the full list of fixtures, here it is (and we’ll try and keep the scores up to date throughout:

Sat 4th Feb  —  14:30  —  France 30 v 23 Italy
Sat 4th Feb  —  17:00  —  SCOTLAND 6 v 13 England
Sun 5th Feb  —  15:00  —  Ireland 21 v 23 Wales
Sat 11th Feb  —  16:00  —  Italy 15 v 19 England
Sun 12th Feb  —  15:00  —  Wales 27 v 13 SCOTLAND
Sat 25th Feb  —  13:30  —  Ireland 42 v 10 Italy
Sat 25th Feb  —  16:00  —  England 12 v 19 Wales
Sun 26th Feb  —  15:00  —  SCOTLAND v France
Sat 10th Mar  —  14:30  —  Wales v Italy
Sat 10th Mar  —  17:00  —  Ireland v SCOTLAND
Sun 11th Mar  —  15:00  —  France v England
Sat 17th Mar  —  12:30  —  Italy v SCOTLAND
Sat 17th Mar  —  14:45  —  Wales v France
Sat 17th Mar  —  17:00  —  England v Ireland

Is your pub showing any of the games?

If so, contact us and let us know and we’ll let everyone else know!

Houston Brewery Celebrates CAMRA Award with a Houston Ale Passport!

We’re sure many of you are aware that Renfrewshire is home to one of Scotlands finest Real Ale Brewerys – The Houston Brewery. What you may not be aware of is that it’s sister pub, The Fox and Hounds in Houston, has won the CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) Pub of Year award for 2011!

As part of the celebration of this award, the Houston Brewery have launched a Houston Ale Passport, to try and encourage non-ale drinkers to try something different. The passport will be available throughout October in a number of Renfrewshire Pubs, with prizes available for various achievements.

The process is fairly simple. Try a Houston Ale and get your Houston Ale Passport stamped. All fully stamped passports will be entered into a prize draw with some fantastic prizes on offer.

Prizes on Offer

The main prize on offer is Houston Brewery Tour for four people, followed by a meal with their choice of Houston Ale.

In addition, each of the pubs taking part in the Passport Scheme are putting forward prizes of meals for 2, wines and of course, the brewery will supply some Houston Ale

Renfrewshire Pubs Selling Houston Ale

Fancy tasting some Real Ale produced right here in Renfrewshire? Then get along to one of the several pubs taking part:

The Fox and Hounds, Houston
Trust Inn, Kilbarchan
Callums Bar, Johnstone
The Howwood Inn, Howwood
Hamish’s Hoose, Paisley

To keep up with news and developments of the Houston Ale Passport, follow the Houston Brewery on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/houstonbrewery

Who are CAMRA?

CAMRA campaigns for real ale, real pubs and consumer rights. They’re an independent, voluntary organisation with over 100,000 members and have been described as the most successful consumer group in Europe. CAMRA promotes good-quality real ale and pubs, as well as acting as the consumer’s champion in relation to the UK and European beer and drinks industry. They aim to:

– Protect and improve consumer rights
– Promote quality, choice and value for money
– Support the public house as a focus of community life
– Campaign for greater appreciation of traditional beers, ciders and perries as part of our national heritage and culture
– Seek improvements in all licensed premises and throughout the brewing industry

Lots to choose from this September Weekend!

OK, so many of you might be disappearing for a short break over this upcoming September weekend, but for those of you staying in Renfrewshire, there are quite a few events happening to keep you busy!

Here are some that we know of …

Live Music at The Weir from Risky Business

The Weir Bar and Bistro have had some of the widest range of live acts on of all the pubs we’ve covered in our short history, and this weekend is yet another new name for us – Risky Business!
Music kicks off at 9:30 on Saturday 24th.

Find out more >

Live Music at Callums Bar from Adriaan Blom

A seemingly popular and up & coming musician, we’ve noticed Adriaans name popping up in a few places across Renfrewshire in recent times. For those who’ve not yet had a chance to see or hear him, head along to Callums Bar in Johnstone on Saturday 24th.

Find out more >

Live Music at Gabriels from Gwen Dillon

Not a pub that we get to much info on in terms of what’s happening, but we have it on good info that Gwen Dillon is playing there this Sunday night (25th) at 9pm. So, any of you lucky enough to have Monday off now have an excuse to enjoy your Sunday.

Find out more >

Live Music at The Viscount from Casper & CO

Another regular for events is the Viscount, and equally regular on our mentions is the fantastic Casper & Co that will be playing there this Sunday (25th) at 8:30pm.

Find out more >

All the usual Pub Quizzes, Karaokes and poker nights still seem to be on – or we’ve at least not been told otherwise.

As always, please feel free to send in pictures if you go to any of the above and we’ll post them on our Facebook page!

Only One Week until Paisley Beer Festival 2011 Opens

It’s that time of year again when the Paisley Beer Festival returns to bring you the opportunity to sample a huge selection of beers from around the UK and abroad, all in one place!

And the Paisley Beer Festival 2011 is set to be every bit as good as its previous 23 years, with organisers expecting around 5000 visitors attending to sample the 170 different beers that will be available.

The festival starts at 5pm on Wednesday 27th April, running until 11pm. It then runs noon until 11pm, noon until midnight and noon until 9pm, on Thursday 28th, Friday 29th and Saturday 30th respectively.

Entry cost is just £5, which not only gets you your own festival glass and program, but also allows you to attend free on other days, as long as you bring the glass along with you.

As well as the huge selection of beers and ciders available, the organisers – CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) – have also organised plenty of food options and entertainment over the days.

Renfrewshire Pubs will be heading to the Paisley Beer Festival 2011 on one of the days. We’re not sure which day yet, but we’ll let you know as soon as we’ve decided. We hope to catch up with some of the local landlords as well as some of our site followers and Facebook fans.

If you’re going to be attending the Beer Festival, why not let us know on Facebook!

More details of the festival can be found on the official website: www.paisleybeerfestival.org.uk

Jerusalem Harpoon, Open Mic Nights, Comedy and a Paisley Pub Facelift

Only one live music act to tell you about this weekend, but still plenty of other events happening around the Pubs, Bars and Inns of Renfrewshire to keep you all busy.

If you live (or are staying) in or near Johnstone or Paisley, then why not head out and exercise your vocal cords at your local Open Mic Night?

Caffe Luna (Paisley) and Callums Bar (Johnstone) are both hosting Open Mic nights this weekend (Friday and Sunday respectively). Head over to our Live Music page for more details.

Prefer to sit and listen to a band? Well, The Weir (Bridge of Weir) has the amazing Jerusalem Harpoon playing on Friday night. We’re sure this will pull in a crowd since the band includes ex-members from Talk Talk, The Alarm, The Pretenders and also Big Vern an the Shootas!!!

If comedy is what you’re after, then Brodies Farmhouse in Houston is where to be this Sunday. We must make a point of getting along ourselves at some point, hopefully soon.

This weeks compare is the popular Raymond Mearns, with stand up being provided by David Kay, Stuart Mitchell & Saj Choudry. Doors open at 8:30pm and tickets are £5.

Another bit of news we stumbled upon this week that’s worth telling you, is that Soho in Paisley is closing for 1 week for a facelift and some TLC. It will re-open on 15th April. Follow them on Facebook to keep up to date with developments (http://www.facebook.com/soho.paisley/posts/190381797672123).

Casper and Co, 56 Degrees North and The Snow Brigade to Name Just a Few

Another busy weekend for live music in Renfrewshire, and a chance to see some bands we’ve not previously mentioned on the Renfrewshire Pubs website, including Casper & Co, 56 Degrees North and The Snow Brigade.

After last weeks busy schedule which included the V-Factor Final (congratulations to the winner!), we’re pleased to say this week is just as busy.

Several bands, playing several pubs across several locations including Johnstone, Renfrew, Paisley and Bridge of Weir.

Starting off tonight you can find Casper and Co over at Callums Bar in Johnstone and, if you miss them, you can see them on Saturday at the ever popular Bankhouse in Paisley. More of the Casper and Co Renfrewshire dates will be posted soon, but in the meantime, find out more about them on the Casper and Co. website.

Elsewhere, Republic of Soul can be found playing over at Hamishes Hoose in Paisley. Always a busy night over at Hamishes Hoose, so if you’re going to be in town, pop in.

56 Degrees North, another band we’ve not mentioned before on the Renfrewshire Pubs website, will be playing Harrys Bar in Renfrew. We’ll find out if they have any more dates and add them to the website.

Finally, heading into Bridge of Weir, you’ll find The Snow Brigade playing at The Weir. A popular pub in Bridge of Weir, this is sure to be another good night at The Weir.

As ever, if you’ve attended any of the events mentioned on Renfrewshire pubs, send in your comments and photos and we’ll post them on our Facebook page. Email us!

RenfrewshirePubs.co.uk Given Permission to use Drinkaware Logo

As many of our followers will already know, our purpose is to promote the many events that take place each week and month across Renfrewshires Pubs, Bars and Inns, on behalf of those Pubs, Bars and Inns.

What we continually push is that we’re not here to promote or encourage binge or excessive drinking, but rather we’re here to help promote the sociable aspect of visiting your local pub, focusing on events such as Live Music nights, Open Mic Nights, Pub Quiz nights, Karaoke evenings, Poker nights, Comedy nights, charity nights and more.

Today we’ve been given a boost that our efforts are indeed being noticed … we’ve been given permission to use the Drinksware logo on our site. We applied hoping that they’d appreciate our intentions, and they’ve accepted.

For those who do not know, Drinkaware “aims to increase awareness and understanding of the role of alcohol in society, enabling individuals to make informed choices about their drinking.”

They do this by running a variety of campaigns, offering a significant number of facts and figures and generally providing information and advice on the impact of excessive drinking.

We’d like to thank Drinkaware for allowing us to use the logo, as well as thanking the many people we talk to as a result of the RenfrewshirePubs.co.uk website and all those who support our effort by providing regular updates, event information and news relating to their Pub, Bar or Inn.

More developments to follow!

3 New Pubs, 2 Open Mic Nights and 1 Unkle Remus!

Thanks to the contribution of a few of our Facebook friends, we have now added 3 more pubs to the Renfrewshire Pubs website. Not only that, by next week we’ll also be posting more information about additional entertainment such as Karaoke nights, Darts nights and more. More reasons to spread the word about Renfrewshire Pubs!

You’re a Friday night sort of person? Well, if you fancy yourself as a bit of a singer or musician, we can recommend you get along to either Caffe Luna or The Crown Bar in Paisley and put your name forward for their respective Open Mic evenings tonight.

If watching others sing is more your thing, then the quarter finals of the V Factor contest at The Viscount in Renfrew starts at 8:30pm. It’s fast getting towards its final at the end of March!

If your preference is to relax on a Friday and be entertained on a Saturday instead, the Howwood Inn is the place to be as the ever popular Unkle Remus are on stage.

The weekly Poker league with MTT Poker also continues over at The Station bar, Paisley.

So, plenty to be keeping you busy!

If you’re looking for somewhere completely different to drink for a change, then why not head along to one of the 3 pubs added to the Renfrewshire Pubs site today – The Club Bar (Paisley), The Crown Bar (Paisley) and Rennies (Johnstone).