Added on Friday 6 Apr 2012

Readers with longish memories may recall a story which broke last year about an apparently eccentric bid to convert a Victorian toilet block at Anniesland into a Spanish tapas bar - to be dedicated to the Scots, many of them Glaswegians, who fought the fascists in the Spanish Civil War.

Like many an unlikely yarn it was completely true, because local man Dougie McKirkle, a builder to trade, was - and still is - in deadly earnest about making his dream a reality.

But apart from the brief mention last year nothing more had been heard, so I met up with him very recently to find whether (and when) the project was still going ahead.

When I arrived outside the building in question it was obvious the scheme is still very much on the go, because whereas before there had been a traffic island girt with scruffy unkempt hedges and festooned with litter there's now a clean site - and where there was a manky old building, possibly in need of demolition, there was the newly-cleaned structure you see on the photograph on this page.

A couple of minutes' chat with Mr McKirkle convinced me not only that the former toilet - once regarded as a little design masterpiece, and constructed by a noted architect who tragically was later to die on the infamous Burma Railroad - is definitely set for a new lease of life in a guise which will do credit to the original structure.

It will also bring something "new" to an under-served area, and act as a continual if low-key reminder of the days when ordinary people were prepared to risk their lives for a noble cause.

A few more minutes' blether sheds a little more light on the Anniesland project. Mr McKirkle, 53, grew up in the area and actually remembers the building as a functioning "convenience" when he was a lad.

Refurbishing it and turning it to good use is a pet project he's determined to bring to fruition slowly and carefully while running his normal day to day business, and he aims to make it just as perfect as it can be before opening it to the public.

Inside will be photographs and other memorabilia of old Anniesland, because this is really in large measure about "reclaiming" an area whose landmarks and local associations have been allowed to slip quietly away; but mainly it will be a tribute to the volunteers of the famous International Brigades.

As a Glaswegian who thinks the example ought to be celebrated more widely, Mr McKirkle thinks "it's about time" their memory was recalled in a public building - and a bar-restaurant is a convivial and appealing way of going about it.

Anyone who has seen the Ken Loach film Land and Freedom will be aware of how a miscellaneous assortment of people, from intellectuals and writers like George Orwell to unemployed dockers - like the English hero in the film, who could just as easily have been Glaswegian - answered the call from Spain's beleaguered democracy to help in the fight against nationalist rebel Franco and his Nazi and Italian fascist allies.

It's possibly only now, with Spain a free country embroiled in the painful re-examination of its past, that the sacrifice made by these volunteers can be seen in true perspective.

The British government of its day was appeasing Hitler and was afraid of Stalin - so it did nothing to stop Franco landing his invasion force in mainland Spain: in fact without the passive "assistance" of the Royal Navy he may have been thwarted.

But it was the in-fighting between the various Republican factions, notionally committed to defeating Franco, which ultimately spelled the defeat of democracy.

Major atrocities were committed on both sides, and when the republican cause collapsed Spain suffered the long dark night of despotic military rule, only truly starting to win back its freedom when the aged dictator finally died.

All of which forms a fairly sombre but nevertheless laudable backdrop to the unique theme to be incorporated in (working title) "La Pasionara" - after the Republican heroine already honoured in Glasgow with a statue on the city's Clyde waterfront.

However for most of the customers who visit in years to come it will be, of course, first and foremost a Spanish tapas bar - albeit not one of the stuffed donkeys and bullfighter poster kind.

Like the late Allan Mawn, who brought Mediterranean food to Glasgow 20 years ago, Mr McKirkle is an enthusiastic Hispanophile with plenty of ideas about how to make his venture truly different, although his main objective will be "just a nice civilised place for people and their families to go for a nice bite to eat and perhaps a quality drink."

The building has been professionally cleaned and stripped down inside by his construction squad, the electrics are "fine", and a large outdoor patio area has already been laid down outside, where until recently there were only beer cans, crisp pokes, and other forms of litter too distressing and depressing to mention.

There's loads of parking nearby, and the area is very well served by public transport, so the fact that the restaurant will be on a traffic island (quite a big one, really) isn't an issue - it's just that nobody apart from this one local man with a visionary idea for a decrepit landmark has tried to do anything with it until now.

There are all sorts of licensing hurdles to negotiate before it can open, but Mr McKirkle is content to take them all at a steady pace, because he's no intentions of opening for another year anyway.

While these days the trend is to throw places open as soon as technically possible he's more in the vein of West End entrepreneur Colin Beattie, who's renowned for taking what has sometimes seemed like "forever" to bring particularly special projects to completion.

So all being well La Pasionara will open around springtime or early summer next year, after it has been lovingly designed and built from scratch within the shell of a little-known relic which would otherwise have fallen into ruin.

It will bring a dash of Hispanic brio to a major road junction, and a bit of vim to Anniesland in general - and offer a reason for heading along Great Western Road from the Botanic Gardens instead of straight down Byres Road.

As a stroke of daring and ingenuity it's in the same league as some of the pioneering ideas brought to fruition by Allan Mawn, and deserves to succeed.

Back to the Future

Talking of Colin Beattie it was nice to bump into him in the Lismore a few days ago, where he insisted on buying me and several regulars a pint to celebrate the fact that he's "returned to his roots".

Until recently the premises have run on a lease, but he tells me he's now taken back personal control of the venue he launched in the early 90's.

He generally has several licensed trade projects on the go at any given time, but is of course best known for Oran Mor, the all-purpose all-singing and dancing venue at the top of Byres Road.

But he tells me he hasn't until now had the time to give The Lismore the attention it deserves.

As a pub whose interior fabric is arguably unmatched in Glasgow for quality and originality, it's a place which has more than stood the test of time, but "the personal touch" - difficult to manage in somewhere as large as Oran Mor - is what makes the difference in a successful local.

Dowanhill disaster

Still in Partick, the Dowanhill Bar has been a community bar for the area since at least the 1890's - so its abrupt closure this month with no explanation has inevitably raised a few eyebrows.

My information is that the lady lessee decided to hand in her keys after some protracted dispute over costs couldn't be settled, and it's quite possible the closure is a local manifestation of a blight that has closed scores of leased pubs across the country.

The malaise began with the smoking ban, but was followed by cut-price competition on drinks from the supermarkets, expensive and difficult new licensing rules, and - putting the tin hat on it - what many argue are leasing terms from the big pub companies which make it impossible for all but the busiest pubs to make any money.

Whether that's the case with the Dowanhill isn't clear - there are other factors which could explain a sudden closure - but the shut-down has certainly alarmed and dismayed regular customers who assumed the pub was doing reasonably well.

It may turn out to be a very temporary closure, and another lessee may step in to fill the breach, but for the moment "one of our pubs is missing".

Pinata in a pickle

Partick Cross has had more than its fair share of recession-related woes, recently, what with the closure of The Chocolate Emporium, Superjuice and The Pantry - and one or two others - but I was still thrust into Victor Meldrew mode when someone told me a few weeks ago that the nae-luck bar-restaurant site at the bottom of the road, next to Toni Macaroni's, had shut up shop ... yet again.

However even while muttering "I don't believe it" I realised it was probably true. It seems like only yesterday that the place was full of customers celebrating the anniversary of the Mexican Revolution (for reasons best known to themselves).

It had bags of pzazz, an interesting drinks offer, an ambitious food offer and - you'd have thought - a prime location amid several busy bars in the heart of a bustling, cosmopolitan sort of area.

But it's shut - for reasons which (yet again) aren't clear.

There's a sign in the window to the effect that it will be open again soon "under a new manager" but that's been the case for a couple of weeks now, and I don't see any indication of action: the cantina is closed.

As memory serves this place has been Buzzy-something, Betelgeuse, Gordon Yuill and Co, North of Bondi, Ad Lib, and the Pakistani Cafe - and Pinata.

I hope it bursts back into life in time for a long hot summer ... but unfortunately optimism is at something of a premium these days, certainly in Partick.

Charlie Rocks?

Still on the subject of closed venues, the mystery about what might happen to the suddenly-shut Antipasti on Byres Road has been dramatically solved - with a king size poster advertising job opportunities in "an American bar diner" called "Charlie Rocks".

Until it opens we'll just have to guess what may be on offer, but we might not be too far off the mark if we speculate that burgers and fizzy beer will be fairly prominent on the menu - although it could turn out to be something more ambitious, and might even bring something "new" to Byres Road, where there's nothing conspicuously "American" at the moment.

Ice Cream City

As noted by Pat Byrne, Nardini's is now open on the site of the former Morton's cafe on Byres Road, and has been totally swamped every time I've passed it - most recently with a pack of well-dressed schoolkids tucking into enormous (and possibly pricy) ice creams.

Meawhile 3 Steps to Heaven a few feet away is also conspicuously busy, with no obvious loss of trade whatsoever and - big surprise - yet another ice cream parlour (also selling paninis and what not) half opened in the former Turkish rug shop on Great Western Road half way towards Kelvinbridge, which briefly became Saladin's mediterranean cafe and deli.

So to state the glaringly obvious, you're never short of somewhere to buy an ice cream in this general area, even before you count the al fresco offer from no less than three vans in or outside the Botanic Gardens during the day. We'll take a closer look at Nardini's once the queues slacken off a bit - maybe around September.

But meanwhile it's again worth restating that Byres Road already has a classic Italian ice cream parlour and cafe in the form of the legendary University Cafe, whose ice cream (and minestrone, etc etc) surely cannot be surpassed.

Just as some curry aficianados wouldn't go anywhere but the Shish Mahal, I'd find it difficult to enjoy an Italian cafe experience anywhere else but the University Cafe - long may it prosper.

Posh van surprise

About a year ago there was a story on the go to the effect that the council were about to open a major cafe venture in the Botanics, in some vacant building in that tangle of outhouses behind the rhododendrons near the hothouse - and I remember questioning whether it could hope to flourish in an area seething with quality outlets, particularly as it wasn't going to be allowed a drinks licence. So I'm not surprised to see it just hasn't happened. Somebody has looked at the business plan for such a venture and thought:"This has 'turkey' written all over it - let's not do it", or so I surmise.

Still, it's nice to imagine what it might have been like to have a place full of tinkling glasses of orange juice and pinky-raising Miss Marple types enjoying a refined cup of Darjeeling and a nice wee scone in the course of their horticultural wanderings, even if it ran at a massive loss and closed within the month.

Instead, to my surprise, a routine pad about the Botanics the other week revealed a completely new "cafe" venture already open and in full swing just a few yards from the main gate.

It has to be said right away this is no ordinary van. Right-on phrases including "organic" and "fair trade" are heavily flagged up on the van, and the leafy colour scheme makes it look a little like a mobile recruitment office for Greenpeace.

But the food looks extremely interesting. Gourmet burgers, haggis burgers and venison burgers - and bratwurst hot dogs - are just some of the headline entrees to be savoured.

There's fresh soup, quality ice cream, and probably very good coffee too - and all at a price point that slots in at about average for outdoor food stalls. In the interests of research I tried a burger. I ate it at a picnic table in the biting wind, complete with a nice fresh salad dressing and home made relish - and it gets my vote.

It would have to, of course, as only a couple of months ago I was moaning about the lack of quality food-on-the-hoof options in Glasgow, and this one seems to fit the bill.

The "cafe" (it's a van!) has an offer so superior to the usual stuff that the absence of fripperies like "premises" doesn't signify.

It also has queues whenever it's sunny, and plenty of places to sit nearby - so now even more than previously the Botanic Gardens demonstrably does not need an actual cafe building.

I'm guessing the council has taken a hefty fee for renting out the space for the van, having wisely accepted it's easier to let someone else try to make actual money out of food and drink.

Given the fast food competition from this outlet and the existing van parked outside the hothouse (which is more a burger n'chips proposition) Cafe Marples, as might have been, sadly wouldn't have a snowball's chance of surviving.

Cafe of the Week

There are so many excellent cafes in the West End that from now on I'm going to mention one "good one" every column - and this time around it's Cafe Di Sorrento in Jordanhill (at 470 Crow Road opposite the Arnold Clark garage).

It is a beautiful little business, painted banana yellow, with a warm, cosy, Italianate interior, superb coffee, and a full Scottish-type cafe menu which is nevertheless headed by a tight but classic selection of typical pizza n' pasta choices from Italia - eg, home made lasagne, Bolognese, macaroni, minestrone.

My lasagne came with a very large helping of fresh, Mediterranean-style salad, and the garlic bread I ordered as a side set things off nicely. I can't recommend this stunning little business and its friendly staff highly enough.