Friday 18th August 2006

Roy Beers, assistant editor of the Scottish Licensed Trade News and pub/bar writer for the West End website glasgowwestend.co.uk, has voted Brel the 'Most Enticing Festival Bar' of 2006.

A big thanks to Roy for his kind words, here they are in full:

The West End Festival has been growing both in strength and stature every year, and in 2006 we thought it was about time to recognise, if only in a small way, the huge contribution the area's leading pubs and restaurants make to the overall success and appeal of the event.

The inaugural "most enticing venue" West End Website award aimed to sum up all of the many features which make a place attractive to visitors who may never have seen a particular bar before, taking into account both the bar operation itself, and any special attributes - for example friendly staff, stunning decor, terrific music - which make the place demonstrably "special".

There were several ventures which deserved praise this year, even in Ashton Lane alone, but Brel was judged to be particularly inviting on a number of fronts, and is a worthy winner.

Based on a number of visits before and during the Festival it appeared obvious that the staff are consistently pleasant, helpful, efficient, and also generally knowledgeable about the bar's impressive array of products.

Both bar and restaurant have a "laid back vibe" while in fact running a smooth operation catering for a large potential clientele; and on sheer appearance the typical Festival scene - "stable doors" rolled back, continental style, and pavement tables - lends a definite continental ambience.

On about half a dozen or so walk-pasts at busy times it was nice to see no forlorn tables crammed with used dishes, coffee cups or litter (obviously helped to some extent by the fact that tables are in hot demand). Sometimes otherwise good bars are spoiled because staff are too busy to attend to outdoor areas - whereas to visitors the pavement scene is obviously the "front of house" which says a lot about the style of service inside.

The quality of the bar's regular live music gigs puts it in a different league from most, and this is also a definite plus: if the place sounds good - often the case at Brel, even if it's a between-spot with CD music playing - it's another good reason for visiting.

The beer is another strong point. There are one or two good cask ale bars in the west end, and several pubs with an interest in quality continental beer, but Brel is unique, and can generally offer unusual Belgian draught choices to complement its standard draught and premium bottled selection.

And like a good continental bar, it goes out of its way to provide the special branded glassware, and the presentation, to match its quality beer. Conversely, the customer who simply wants "a cold beer", nothing fancy, will get exactly the same sort of consideration.

Finally, the restaurant is justifiably very popular, both for its "rustic" Belgic cuisine - including signature moules frites in several interesting serving varieties - and for recently-introduced daily specials choices which offer a contrasting Mediterranean note: in other words you can visit many times and never risk being bored by the same standard menu entries.

Take all of that together and you have a pub many visitors will find it hard to ignore - a bar-restaurant and music venue which is now as much a part of the West End summer entertainment scene as the Festival itself.

So congratulations to Brel, which we find is celebrating it's 10th anniversary in a few months' time: hopefully the next decade will be no less interesting!

(Roy Beers)