][1]There are lots of new restaurants and bars popping up all over the Central Belt – must be something to do with all the sunshine.
Over on Glasgow’s Great Western Road, we see that Wise Monkey, underneath the Viper Room, is being transformed into the Little Urban Achievers Club.
I was never a fan of the film but, I’m told, this is something to do with The Big Lebowski.
The Lebowski connection
Once you know that, you don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to twig that the Little Urban Achievers Club (LUAC) may just be connected to the Lebowski bars in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Indeed, LUAC’s Facebook page proclaims that the bar is aiming to be ‘Lebowski’s younger, cooler, funkier brother!’
Fair enough. It opens officially on Monday and we’ll have more info later next week.
Stag’s Head missing
Over in Edinburgh, the bars in the Canonmills area at the bottom of Broughton Street have been going through a few changes. The Stag’s Head has undergone an extreme make over and is now called The Other Place.
Previously a dyed in the wool community bar, it has been stripped back to the brick and gentrified with French windows and a contemporary bar menu.
The recent good weather has seen it open up to the street and attract the area’s young professionals – something it would have struggled to do in its old guise.
Directly across from it, the former McLachlan’s Ale House is also being revamped under the auspices of the Shilling Group.
Turn around operators
Among several other venues, they already run Bar Kohl on George IV Bridge and have form in turning around old boozers and giving them a new lease of life.
Previous projects have included The Fountain Bar in Fountainbridge. Once a dim and dingy spot, it’s now pulling in the customers with a stonking wine list; lots of interesting beers and an inventive bar menu.
It will be interesting to see if they intend to launch a similar format in Edinburgh’s Canonmills.