The Dial Inn
The Dial Inn opened in August 1973 and was one of the most popular venues in the centre of Glasgow, It was situated at the bottom of West Regent street and was loved by fans and musicians alike, the restaurant part of the pub was the door on the right and the live music part was the door on the left which led you downstairs to a Swiss themed room called The Heidi Lounge, this part of the pub provided a stage for musicians to perform every night of the week and most afternoons. Having spoken to loads of musicians while putting this site together over the years nearly everyone chose this venue as their favourite place to play in Glasgow so we have dedicated this page to the legendary Dial Inn.
Photo from 2007 . The music lounge on the left was turned into a pool bar called Potters, the venue is now closed.
The Henry Gorman Band
Danny Gisby - HGB
Jamie Barnes and Cochise
Painting of The Dial Inn for this site by Artist / Illustrator Michael Ferns.
The Dolphins
“It must be The Dial Inn, it was one of the only places you could play in the afternoon then come back and play again that night, it was always packed and the crowd were always very forgiving, ready to accept new material and ideas, it just had a great atmosphere”
A few years after the send off gig in The Dial Inn for Davy Edgar a live CD was made with some of the tracks from the three and a half hour Dial Inn gig in 1982 .
“We had been playing The Dial inn for about 2 to 3 years by then and we knew Davy Edgar was leaving and Harry Denmark was coming in as drummer so we decided to play every song Davy knew as a kind of send off, the gig lasted about three and a half hours and opened early at six o’clock with people queueing outside to get in”
Shoot The Moon
The Dial Inn dressing room in 1982
“With Shoot The Moon our best gig was The Dial Inn on Sunday afternoon, about 70% of the audience were guys from other bands, it was like you were playing to your peers so you were always under a bit of pressure, that’s probably one of the things that made this period so good, a bit of healthy rivalry”
Chasar
“We had some great gigs there, The Dial Inn was great for seeing groups, magnificent in fact but it was the death of many for not being trendy”
Sandy Gibb Stuart - ‘Amanda’s Tapes’
Chico
Sneeky Pete
“I was a bouncer at The Dial Inn between 1978 - 1979 but I wasn’t the wee fat one I think his name was Henry, He was a pain in the a*$*. Customers would phone the DJ from each table with record requests hence The Dial Inn. On Saturday lunchtimes anyone was allowed downstairs but on Fri / Sat nights it was couples only or single women that’s when we earned our Bouncer pay.”
Syndicate
Pallas
“My favourite venue is probably The Dial Inn then the Burns Howff 2nd and The Bungalow 3rd”
The Building in the late 80s, As Drummonds Bar Restaurant.
The building in 2024.
The Apollo painting is by Artist Jim Dinnen who has kindly allowed us to show it on this page, Jim can personalise some of his paintings to suit with bands and dates as you can see with The Dial Inn on the side of the van. Check out Jim’s work on his site at jimdennenart.co.uk
Moira Garside
Moira Garside
“ Sneeky Pete was my favourite band. I loved working there part time as waitress/barmaid and made life long friends. Mr Porter was the manager he organised a female football team from the staff. The team was called Dial Inn Dollies but when we received our tops it was printed Dial Inn Doolies. We played in Glasgow Green on a Sunday. Not best day to play as we would turn up from all night parties. Mr Cullen was first Manager and very strict but fare. If he saw a couple ‘winching’ he would go straight over and ask them to stop or leave. This is a photo of myself, Janette Moog and Lyn Craig. There were also up and coming comedians, Dean Park, Hector Nicol, Mr Abie who had gigs there”
Havana / Souled Out
John Allan - ‘Havana’
