The notorious Caravel Bar was demolished in 1996, after years of controversy.
The pub was rumoured to be a hub of felonies with bomb scares, apparent drug trafficking, and underworld murders. Allegedly the meeting place of some of Glasgow's biggest gangsters, The Caravel was run by one of the city’s most famed couples of crime.
The Caravel was owned by Margaret McGraw - wife of Thomas McGraw. Known as ‘The Licensee’ Thomas was once one of the wealthiest businessmen in Glasgow, earning millions in security companies, taxi firms, and properties.
The pub first made headlines when a typical afternoon in The Caravel almost saw the building explode. With punters filling the bar, Glasgow’s ‘crime king’ Arthur Thompson had it out for Thomas - and planned for one of his men to take the whole place down while he was at it.
Reportedly, Arthur wanted to take control of The Caravel - and Thomas wasn’t playing ball. The pub was raking in money from late licensing, and drug trafficking was becoming too risky.
While in prison, another prominent figure in the city’s criminal underworld published a tell all book which detailed the event. In Villians: It Takes One to Know One, Paul Ferris (more on him later) writes: “He lobbed in a grenade.
“Not just any grenade but a NATO-issue one that was capable of severe damage. Some boozer felt a weight bump against his foot and instinctively kicked it out of the way, deeper into the pub.
“The whole future face of street crime in Glasgow, Scotland and maybe Britain was ticking away at their feet.”
One of the drinkers threw the grenade from the pub, and by the time police and bomb squad had arrived it became clear that the pin hadn’t been pulled. Though a failed explosion was the least of the worries in the Glasgow underworld at the time.
Years before this in 1988, the roof of The Caravel was mysteriously damaged by fire. Assuming that Arthur had something to do with it, Thomas knocked on his door and demanded for the roof to be fixed.
Arthur agreed to come and have a look at the damage, and ultimately ended up handing over £5,000 in cash to mend the building. Reportedly, this may have been another attempt to take control of The Caravel.
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Arthur Thompsons son, Arthur ‘Fat Boy’ Junior, had been murdered a few weeks before the bomb scare. He had vowed to get vengeance for his son’s death, and thought he knew just who to take it out on.
Joe “Bananas” Hanlon, who worked at The Caravel, offered his friend Bobby Glover a favour when he needed a lift to a meeting. With Bobby’s car in the hands of police for forensic testing, the duo headed off to meet with William Lobban and told Bobby’s wife they’d be back in 20 minutes.
The next day, their bodies were found in a car in Shettleston - both found shot in the head. It was thought that the two had been abducted and taken to a spot near the Stepps bypass, where Arthur Senior was waiting to watch them killed by one of his henchmen.
The following year Paul Ferris was trialled for the muder of Arthur Thompson junior.At the time, the trial was the most expensive criminal trial in Scottish legal history, costing £4 million and lasting 54 days.
With his co-accused already dead, Paul was found not guilty on charges of murder, drug trafficking, conspiacy and posession of firearms. In the wake of the Hanlon-Glover murders, the future looked bleak for The Caravel.
By April 1996, all that remained of the pub was rubble. After the trial, Margaret was struggling to keep the business afloat with complaints that the pub attracted ‘undesirables’.
Some involved in Glasgow’s gang world have claimed that the demolition of the building was to hide the evidence of Bobby and Joe five years earlier, though the McGraws maintained that the decision was simply a business transaction. The couple sold the land to a development company, crushing the pub and making way for 22 homes.
Thomas McGraw died in 2007 at his home in Mount Vernon after a suspected heart attack. Margaret passed away in 2018, following a long battle with throat cancer.
