Added on Monday 24 Dec 2012

We're delighted to welcome as the new sponsor of this column the Indian restaurant many regard as the "crown jewels" of the local Asian dining scene - Mother India, run by chef-restaurateur Monir Mohammed.

As regular readers will know he has been using his Ashton Lane venue, The Glasgow Curry Shop, to celebrate the city's well-attested love affair with the wonderful cuisine of the sub-continent, and we'll have much more to say about that project - already progressing very well - in months to come. But quite besides all of that we've never made any secret of the fact we believe Mother India is at the very top of the tree in the Indian restaurant milieu many regard as the best in Britain.

With about a dozen top international cuisines to be found among the West End's excellent selection of restaurants and bar-diners it's gratifying to note we also have, representing the most popular cuisine of them all, an enterprise which pays due homage to the past - as in the "trip down memory lane" at the Glasgow Curry Shop - but also offers cuisine every food critic worth tuppence has regularly described as brilliant.

We're delighted our regular updates will now carry the Mother India logo, and naturally we'll be including regular information about the restaurant and its wonderful cuisine throughout 2013.

Meanwhile if you are still casting around for that special occasion festive meal and either don't fancy the "trad" approach or simply want something different for a particular night, I'd strongly advise checking out Mother India's Christmas Menu on this site - along with some of the other top venues' festive offerings.

Black Friday beckons ...

This Friday is possibly the busiest of the year for hard-pressed bar staff across Glasgow, as countless thousands of suddenly-liberated workers collectively shout "yippee!" and sally forth in search of licensed entertainment.

Now known ominously as "Black Friday", the last Friday before Christmas, it's the signal that the Christmas phoney war (begins in September) is over, and that we're fast approaching the eye of the storm - Christmas Day itself.

If you think the typical West End Friday night was busy, you will be amazed - maybe even appalled - by the post-5pm charge to the bars set to take place later this week. And since Christmas Eve isn't till Monday it means there's ample scope for still further revelry over the weekend - or possibly for the inevitable last-minute Christmas shopping. Suppose you want a quiet-ish drink with friends and don't want to share your Friday evening with a group of exuberant if dishevelled accountants in the throes of alcohol-assisted liberation?

A friendly local barber suggests the members-only bar at the Western Baths is one of the most civilised retreats in the area - so if you're not a member but know somebody who is this might be a great opportunity to get "signed in". Apart from the more restrained registered social clubs, however, the rest of the bar trade - even the places that can struggle at other times of year - will be awash with revellers.

This in turn tends to see a substantial number of regular pub customers go off in the huff,

as their bars are hijacked by hordes of once-a-year drinkers - they're the sort who laugh too loudly, give cheek to the staff, get drinks orders hopelessly muddled, and generally clutter up the bar while "proper" customers are waiting to be served.

Vital advice

Meanwhile if you are a newly-liberated worker who doesn't normally visit licensed premises, there is no shortage of advice on what to do and what to beware of.

East Renfrewshire Council, for example, recommends: "Stick to the sensible drinking guidelines of not regularly drinking more than 3-4 units per day for men and 2-3 units per day for women" - which isn't as daft as it may seem. The clue is the word "regularly" - although some would argue that bingeing on odd nights can be as damaging as regular over-consumption.

The Christmas binge can certainly be challenging for everyone from bar staff to city centre night stewards and police as they struggle to cope with "Saturday night max" over two whole weeks of continuous bevvying - and, as we've noted, it's also a little trying for pub regulars who don't enjoy seeing their favourite local bar turned into a sort of bibulous Santa's Grotto infested by braying, swaying strangers.

Top bar tips

Alongside official pearls of wisdom such as "try using a smaller glass" - which, believe me, doesn't work with a pint of beer - our hot advice for the festive season is as follows:-

• 1. If you're having a night out and are buying a round, buy a drink for the overworked, underpaid member of staff who is taking your order.
• Of course he or she won't be having that drink right away - it will go into a kitty which all the staff can use later, when the party mob have finally gone away.
• 2. Don't mix the grape with the grain - so no whisky followed by wine, or vice versa. There are always people who can get away with it up to a point, but most of us risk a rotten hangover.
• 3. Eat something substantial but short of a full meal - for example pakora.
• 4. Plan your escape route - don't leave taxis or trains (etc) to chance. Better still get a long-suffering designated driver to take the strain of getting everyone home.
• 5. Avoid the city centre like the plague - it is not a nice place to be.

Number five is not likely to win plaudits from hard-working bar and club owners beyond Charing Cross, but it's honest advice based on decades of hard-won experience.

Try the Bon

The West End is not Shangri-La, and due caution has to be exercised late at night, as anywhere, but in town there are all sorts of loose cannons waiting to potentially ruin your night, in a milieu which (tourism promises of "vibrant nightlife" notwithstanding) closely resembles those drunken town centre scenes you see on documentaries about drink disorder in English cities.

The whole business of going out for a drink in city centres seems require attendant battalions of police, night stewards and security staff, along with emergency medical services and - presumably coming to Glasgow sooner or later - such apparently essential trimmings as pop up toilets for the use of the grossly inebriated.

Yet just yards away from this over-refreshed Tin Pan Alley environment - in North Street, to be precise - things couldn't be more different.

The Bon Accord is the first "great pub" in the West End heading away from the city, and effectively the last quality pub before, heaven forfend, you hit the human jungle of Sauchiehall Street and beyond.

It's also the first "best" West End Bar in a new section we'll be developing steadily in months to come, offering straightforward info about our top pubs, Busy or not, the Bon is a brilliant example of how a place can be lively and sociable but still completely efficient and excellently run, and for anyone who likes "real" pubs it's a must-visit venue for the festive season.

News file

There have been some spectacular newcomers (eg Assagini) in recent weeks, and some memorable closures - such as Bruadar at Partick Cross, and Otto in Byres Road - but December is shaping up as a "quieter" month, if only in that sense. Athena Taverna in Argyle Street had to flit to the centre of town while irksome building refurbishment was carried out - the curse of all licensed premises - but should be back home now in plenty of time to make the most of festive trade.

Over in Kelvinbridge, Maclay Inns, whose local ventures already include the Lansdowne, Dram! and The Three Judges, has been refurbishing its latest West End acquisition, The Captain's Rest (close to St George's Cross), which should bring another welcome dash of quality to this increasingly vibrant and interesting area.

And on Woodlands Road a previously closed outlet at number 262 has reopened as Cafe Phoenix (appropriately) bookshop and cafe, run by a very friendly lady from Dundee who has "fallen in love" with the West End.

As the name suggests there are plenty of books to choose from - all at shopper-friendly prices - in a very cosy and engaging setting which also includes, upstairs, a "secret" hideaway lounge with comfy leather sofas.

Also new to this general area is Byblos cafe at the top of Park Road, a Lebanese bistro which - in a beautifully refurbished venue - offers everything from tasty snacks to definitive Middle Eastern "standards", such as shawarma - a recent visit there disclosed that real Lebanese coffee (very similar to Turkish, but with its own particular characteristics) is one of the "authentic" minor but important touches that make this place a very attractive light dining proposition.

Much more on these and other West End cafes in weeks to come.