The city stays upstairs.
A cocktail bar in the strongroom of a Victorian bank, fourteen steps below Ingram Street. Forty seats, eleven stools at the bar, and no phone signal.
Book a table
See the autumn list
96 Ingram Street Merchant City Fourteen steps down
Built to keep money. Now it keeps the evening.
The room was built in 1898 to keep the bank’s money. Ailsa Rennie and Danny Okoro, who met behind the same bar in 2011, opened it as Halcyon Room in November 2018.
Ailsa makes every syrup, cordial and tincture we pour. Danny cuts the ice and writes the list.
Danny, cutting the ice.
The door
Two and a half tonnes of steel, still on its hinges. It stands open every night we’re open.
The back wall
212 safe-deposit boxes. The bitters and tinctures live in them now.
The walls
A metre of brick and steel, so there’s no phone signal down here. Nobody has complained yet.
The seats
Forty at low tables, and eleven stools at the bar.
“The quietest good night out in Glasgow. Three rounds, and nobody looked at a phone.”
Morag, Dennistoun
Nothing down here is rushed.
Scroll slowly. We do.
Our own clear ice.
Danny cuts it himself, clear all the way through, so it melts slowly and never clouds a drink.
About forty turns.
Every stirred drink on the list gets them, slowly, every time.
A glass from the freezer.
Strained into a glass kept in the freezer, so the drink stays cold to the last sip.
A twist, and it’s yours.
Pressed over the top, so the oil from the peel lands on the drink.
The autumn list
From 1 October. The list changes four times a year, and every syrup, cordial and tincture in it is made behind our bar.
Cocktails
Halcyon
£12
Gin, bianco vermouth, pear, a pinch of sea salt. Stirred, served up.
Strongroom
£13
Rye whisky, sweet vermouth, our cherry amaro. Stirred.
Ingram Old Fashioned
£12
Blended Scotch, demerara, orange and cacao bitters, over one block of our own ice.
Merchant City Sour
£12
Scotch, roasted apple, lemon, egg white. Shaken.
Sloe Negroni
£12
Gin, sloe gin, a red bitter aperitivo, sweet vermouth.
Last Train
£11
Blended Scotch, ginger, lemon, smoked tea soda. Long and cold.
Quince Royale
£13
Our quince cordial, topped with sparkling wine.
Time Lock
£13
Aged rum, cold coffee, chestnut, a float of cream.
Low and no
Alcohol-free, or close to it.
Calm Seas
£8
A non-alcoholic botanical spirit, verjus, cucumber, tonic. Alcohol-free.
Half Spritz
£8
Bianco vermouth, pink grapefruit, soda. About 5%.
Pear and sage shrub
£7
With soda. Alcohol-free.
Ginger beer
£5
Brewed here, with lime. Alcohol-free.
Small plates
From 5pm until an hour before we close.
Gordal olives
£5
Orange and fennel.
Smoked almonds
£4
Haggis bonbons
£8
Whisky mustard mayonnaise.
Venison sausage roll
£7
Brown sauce.
Whipped cod’s roe
£9
Toasted sourdough.
Three Scottish cheeses
£14
Oatcakes and quince.
Chocolate truffles
£6
Three of them, dark.
Book a table
Or walk in: the eleven stools at the bar are never booked.
Thursdays, the trio plays.
Piano, double bass and drums: two sets from 8.30pm, every Thursday. No cover charge.
Thursday tables go first, so book ahead.
Book a Thursday table
“Booked a table for six on a Thursday for my birthday. The trio played my dad’s favourite.”
Kieran, Shawlands
Book a table
For two to eight of you, any night of the week. For nine or more, the whole vault is yours: see private hire, below.
Call 0141 496 0377
WhatsApp us
Request a table
Your table
We hold it for 15 minutes. On Friday and Saturday it’s yours for two hours; the rest of the week, stay as long as you like.
The bar
Eleven stools, never booked. Walk in and take one.
Age
Over‑18s only, and we may ask for ID.
Have the vault to yourselves.
Sunday to Thursday, the whole room is yours for up to 40 guests: a birthday, a work night out, a wedding drink.
Tell us the date, how many of you there are and the occasion, and we’ll come back within two days with a price.
Ask about private hire
Or call 0141 496 0377
Ask about private hire
Sunday to Thursday, for up to 40 guests. Tell us the date, how many of you there are and the occasion, and we’ll come back within two days with a price.
Send the enquiry
Fourteen steps below Ingram Street.
Look for the brass plate at number 96. Our door is to the left of the old bank’s front steps, and the stairs lead down to the vault. There is no lift, sorry.
Monday to Thursday
5pm–midnight
Friday and Saturday
4pm–1am
Sunday
4pm–11pm
96 Ingram Street, Merchant City, Glasgow G1 1EX
0141 496 0377
WhatsApp 07700 900377
hello@halcyonroom.co.uk