Bushes Bar, Tollcross:
Located in the far eastern reaches of the city; this derelict former public house is sited on a corner with surrounding grounds and a large enclosed area to its west. The building is a two storey blond sandstone and brick harled building with a slate covered timber roof. The main entrance is on the south elevation on Easterhill Street, with a secondary entrance at the rear and stone staircase to the first floor.
Background information is sparse, the last licensee was named Neilson (information over the main door), this family are connected with this pub going back to the early 19th century. The building had served as a pub/bar/tavern/inn for at least 100 years (oldglasgowpubs.co.uk). Brick walling can be noted at the rear of the site with the more expensive sandstone used for the more public west and south elevations and the two gable ends. There is some evidence the brick chimneys are not original and these chimneys would originally have been stone. It is not clear, though it should not be discounted that the use of brick at the rear north and east walls is also as a result of rebuilding. If this is the case and the entire building was originally stone it may suggest an older building date than the late 19th century. History is sparse, glasgowhistory.co.uk has research suggesting Easterhill Street was formerly known here as Morrison Brae, although this is unverified and lends no further clues to the building's history.
The building is currently in a poor condition with organic growth rife in the usual sites of gutters and chimneys, the harling is shedding from the walls in large patches on the north elevation, and the roof has many slipped and missing slates. More seriously the lead flashings have been stripped from the roof and chimneys, this combined with some holes in the roof will have allowed major water penetration into the building at numerous points. This water penetration will be greatly accelerating the building's deterioration and wet rot and dry rot will no doubt be present internally. The building is not listed.

street address: 12 Easterhill Street, Tollcross, Glasgow, G32 8LW
Latitude / Longitude: 55.839998,-4.171677 (sourced using Google Maps)
Site visit: 07 March 2012

front (south) elevation onto Easterhill Street and gable east elevation with large wines and spirits signage. The large mature trees make the bar picturesque in the spring/summer as the greeness blooms (07/03/2012)

front (south) elevation and main entrance (07/03/2012)

main door on the front (south) elevation (07/03/2012)

Over the door the name of the licensee reads J. Neilson, it is believed the bar closed in 2007 following over 100 years of trading (07/03/2012)

large hole in the roof over the south elevation. The sagging roof around the hole suggests the timber below has given way, probably due to advanced timber rot (07/03/2012)

front (south) elevation onto Easterhill Street and gable east elevation with large wines and spirits signage (07/03/2012)

east elevation signage (07/03/2012)

brick chimney atop the gable (east) elevation. Plant growth can be seen sprouting from each individual pot (07/03/2012)

view from the north-east of the vehicular entrance to the site. A small single storey extension is sited on the north elevation of the L shaped plan building, and in the elbow of the L is a stone staircase up to the first floor (07/03/2012)

stone staircase at the rear of the site (07/03/2012)

stone staircase at the rear of the site, east elevation of the leg of the L plan shape (07/03/2012)

view eastwards along the north elevation from the top of the stone staircase. The brick wall has lost much of its render (harling) (07/03/2012)

single storey extension on the north elevation (07/03/2012)

north west corner of the building with the second gable end with the single storey extension (07/03/2012)

view across the beer garden at the west of the site, in the foreground lies a punctured abandoned bouncy castle, and in the background a broken pool table leans against the wall (07/03/2012)

ripped and broken pool table (07/03/2012)

west elevation (07/03/2012)

large former window reduced in size on the west elevation at ground level (07/03/2012)

first floor window on the first floor, note the older styled timber and sash window and tooled ashlar window surround, sill and lintel (07/03/2012)

brick chimney atop the stone chimney base on the west elevation. This suggests the chimneys have been rebuilt, the brickwork appears more recent than the stonework below. A very large hole pierces the thinner chimney wall at eaves level (07/03/2012)

the large hole at eaves level in the west chimney (07/03/2012)

close up shows the flashing has been stripped from the chimney junction to the roof. This is a common occurence with derelict buildings due to the high scrap value of the lead used for this type of detailing. Once removed catastrophic moisture penetration begins rapidly accelerating the outbreaks of dry and wet rot and the general decline of the building (07/03/2012)

view from the west of the gable end chimney and skew. The glimmer of light at the chimney's base shows the flashing here has also been stripped (07/03/2012)




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