A wee while ago in a place not that far away (Charing Cross, to be precise) Glaswegians with a passion for Star Wars had a place to call home.
The Jedi Bar on North Street closed its doors for the last time in 2002. The building has since been replaced by the trendy cocktail bar, Chinaskis.
Shaped like Darth Vader’s helmet, the pub attracted fans of the film series - with two giant rocket engines on each side of the entrance. The inside was decorated in all white, resembling the Mos Eisley cantina on the fictional Star Wars desert planet Tatooine.
The Jedi Bar gave customers the offer of playing on their gaming consoles, or enjoying a pint while watching one of the films projected onto screens. The small beer garden was also a popular spot in the summer, as well as their weekly house nights called Bughouse.
While it may have shut up shop 20 years ago, Glasgow locals remember the Jedi Bar like it was yesterday. Discussing the pub in the Lost Glasgow Facebook page, Colin Smith commented: “I remember it well, the bouncers stood outside with Jedi robes on too.
“Also from what I remember, the bar had to slightly change names from Jedi to Jed with an eye symbol after they were chased for copyright infringement.”
Norman McLeod recalled: “I was there opening night, and as I recall it was a bit like the Mos EIsley cantina. Great bar, weird as hell but I had many fun nights there.”
After looking through local memories of the pub, it’s clear that some drinkers may have actually been on another planet at the Jedi Bar. Graeme Thorburn remembered: “It was the perfect session pub.
Sign up to our Glasgow Live nostalgia newsletters for more local history and heritage content straight to your inbox
“No matter how battered you were, there was always some specimen in a worse nick.”
After the pub poured its last pint, the owners sold off the features including the Darth Vader bar, lightsabers, capes and helmets. They closed down and broke the hearts of Jedi lovers across the city.
Glasgow is no stranger to a themed bar, with the Buck Roger’s Burger Station which transported diners to the 25th century. In the television show Buck Rogers, the title character was a NASA pilot, who was frozen in time and woke up hundreds of years in the future.
Along with robot and alien sidekicks, Buck travelled through space with the fate of humanity in his hands. Back here on earth, Glasgow weans were thrilled when a restaurant themed around the TV show popped up on Queen Street.
With ‘alien’ waiters and a spaceship interior, a trip to the eatery was an out of this world experience. Unfortunately, after some trademark issues, the bar became simply Buck’s Burger Station.
After only a few years of service, the burger spot closed for good. According to some sources, the building was eventually gutted by fire.
