After closing rather unexpectedly at the tail end of last year, Glasgow's MacSorley's is back in action with a packed programme of live music and a tempting bar food menu.

The full line-up is here but performers appearing in the next few days include Dawn Patrol, Jude and the Jay Walkers, Heavy Load and Blue Milk.

The pub first opened in 1899 and we suspect that the food served has changed dramatically over the last 120 years.

According to this rather entertaining blog, back in ye olde days, typical pub food would have been items that could be eaten without cutlery.

We're talking pickled whelks, boiled green peas, fried fish, pies and sheep trotters.

Crisps weren't really a thing until just before WWII. Roasted peanuts became popular in the Fifties with pork scratchings pitching up not long after.

Anyway, I digress.

Tartan tapas

The current food offer at MacSorley's is divided into three menus: lunch, tartan tapas and snacks.

Typical lunch choices include a range of sandwiches - chicken katsu! - burgers and classic pub dishes like steak and ale pie, mac 'n' cheese, fish 'n' chips plus mince and tatties.

If you want to look further afield for inspiration, there is a Thai beef salad, a Cajun alfredo bake and a giant Moroccan couscous salad up for grabs.

We can't get past the idea that one of the burgers is cheekily named The Big Mac (Sorley's). The burger pic above is from MacSorley's Facebook page,

The tartan tapas are £11 for a selection of three. We suspect that the black pudding fritters or the mini Scotch pie with baked beans would both slide down easily with a beer or two.

Or, as we normally say in this blog, they would pair perfectly with a crisp, citrus-driven craft ale.

We'll raise a glass to MacSorley's renaissance and drink to them going strong for another hundred years.