Partick Thistle get go-ahead for car park matchday bar

Partick Thistle has been given the green light to open a new matchday bar at Firhill Stadium.

The Glasgow club has received permission to serve fans within a marquee at the Jackie Husband Stand car park.

It is hoped the bar will be able to boost the club’s finances after more than a year without crowds.

The city’s licensing board handed out an occasional licence, which will allow alcohol to be sold in the marquee until March 31 next year.

Archie MacIver, the solicitor representing the club, said: “Football clubs have been very drastically affected by the fact they can’t have fans in the stadiums. It’s been a nightmare time for them.”

The bar will “give the club some opportunity to try to get some finance coming back in after what has been effectively a barren year”, he added.

The car park bar will replace the usual matchday bar, which will only be available to members and VIPs.

Mr MacIver said the change had been brought about by Covid-19, which meant operational plans for Firhill had to be altered.

Fans will need to pre-book via a Thistle events app for the new facility, which will have a capacity of 96 people and will be table service only.

For 3pm games on a Saturday, the bar will open at 12pm with last orders at 2.30pm. It will reopen at 5pm and close at 7.30pm.

Before midweek fixtures, which typically kick off at 7.45pm, the bar will open at 5pm and shut at 7.30pm. After the match, it will reopen at 9.30pm and close at 11pm.

Addressing the licensing board, Mr MacIver said: “We’ve got four main football clubs in the city, no doubt everyone will argue which are the main ones.

“But Thistle have a very special place in the hearts of the people of Glasgow and they are away from all of the nonsense that goes along with some other clubs.

“I think they are very much a favoured outfit when it comes to Glaswegians. Everyone has a soft spot for Thistle.

“They’ve had tough times in the past financially, they’ve weathered those, they’ve come back, they’ve got a team that’s heading in the right direction once more. They now need the financial support.”

Mr MacIver added that if fans are prevented from attending games next season due to the Scottish Government’s Covid restrictions, then plans for the bar would be scuppered.

By local democracy reporter Drew Sandelands