PUBS Jonathan Trew visits a pub that offers a touch of the Alps that looks more like a nuclear bunker than a ski chalet

Bar and club entrepreneur Colin Barr has seen more of Glasgow’s nightlife than even the most time-served all-night garage attendant would own up to.

Over the last 25 years, he has had a hand in all sorts of ventures from clubs such as Bennets and The Tunnel to bars such as The Living Room and Salty Dog.

Often present in his own establishments, he has probably seen fewer daylight hours than Count Dracula and may well have had more fun.

His latest wheeze is the Republic Uber Lounge set on the first floor and with tinted windows, it is not the easiest bar to spot. But if you walk down Sauchiehall Street towards Buchanan Galleries and duck down the alleyway by the T Mobile shop you will be at its door.

Republic Uber Lounge is the latest instalment in Barr’s Bier Halle mini-group of bars. The Republic Bier Halle on Gordon Street and its sister bar the Republic Bier Stube on Kilmarnock Road have both done well since kicking off in 1999.

Simple décor inspired by the beer cellars of Eastern Europe and a huge range of beers from around the world is not rocket science but it works. Uber Lounge hopes to do the same but with a bit more chalet chic. Its owners say they want it to have “less of the practical German” and “more warmth and luxury inspired by the Alps”. Fair enough but beyond a cocktail called the Sno’drift, it is difficult to see where the Alpine bit fits in. One of the bar staff looked a little like Heidi but one pair of pigtails doesn’t conjure up that complete après-ski feel.

The place itself looks more like a nuclear bunker than a ski chalet. The walls are a forbidding grey and the black ceiling looks as though its made from corrugated iron.

There seem to be blackout curtains on the windows. When I was in , there was rain hammering against the windows. Inside it sounded like Slipknot, Moorhead and Bloc Party were having a punch-up on the roof.

This made it seem cosy and pleasantly dimly lit inside but it is easy to imagine that the place could just look dark and gloomy. It is as though Darth Vader chose the colour scheme. Where the owners have got it right is in making the Uber Lounge open to all.

They wanted it to be the kind of place where “snowboarders and suits” could mingle.

Apart form a couple of blokes with suspicious goatees there were no obvious snowboarders in but there was a good mix of people.

Art students, a couple of dreads and assorted club kids were all happily rubbing shoulders with work bods having a couple of beers.

There was a contented low buzz about the place and when everyone comes out of their January hibernation I reckon Uber Lounge will be a popular pre-club meeting place.

They do a range of cocktails and have a wine list but beer is the king here. There are nearly 60 bottled beers and 10 on draught. Any beer drinker worth his love handles will have heard of Budvar, tasted wheat beet and know that it’s best to drink Leffe Blonde by the half if you want to remember your name come last orders.

Great beer list aside, Republic Uber Lounge doesn’t yell immediate success to me. ON a weekend night with a big, pumped-up crowd, it will have a great vibe about it. On a sunny summer evening, it might just feel gloomy.

It’s a thin line between being a basic but cheery beer hall and looking like a staff canteen for a shut-down Polish mine works.

Tel: 0141 353 0442

Opens: Noon – midnight, seven days

Prices: Pint draught Bier Halle £2.75; glass of wine from £2.95; Blackened Voodoo £3; Cocktails £5

Rating: Three out of five