A DALMUIR pub owner is delighted to be nominated for an award after lockdown closed his business for over a year.

Andrew McQuade began his hospitality career working in a nightclub when he was 18, but knew he dreamed of starting his own business in his home town.

The 32-year-old told the Post: “Throughout my twenties I worked in bars and nightclubs. While I was working as a manager in Finnieston I saved up enough money to put down a deposit on my very own bar.

“Even though my family thought I was crazy at the start, they have been the greatest support I could ever ask for. I don’t know what I would do without them.”

After successfully getting his first pub, The Cabin Inn on Dumbarton Road, up and running, he knew he was ready for his next challenge.

Before Covid struck the hospitality industry, Andrew bought a bar in Paisley.

But it’s his latest bar in Greenock, which he bought at the start of lockdown, that has seen him nominated for the ‘New Bar of the Year’ in the Scottish Bar and Pub Awards.

He added: “We were up against some phenomenal hospitality venues. To even be up against them personally was a self accomplishment. My career and businesses have been built from basically nothing.

“I have had blood, sweat and tears being self-employed. However, it is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done.

“I have the burning desire to succeed only because I came from nothing.”

He admits that the pandemic almost caused him to throw in the towel for good after the stress of Covid restrictions on the hospitality industry.

He said: “The thing that was worrying me was that the people that drink in my bars are pensioners.

“And these pensioners live alone, so when they weren’t able to go to my bar, it was upsetting because for them it was the social interaction they needed.

“The pub community has always been its own family.

“The pandemic has caused me a lot of stress and anxiety because you are having to constantly change and adapt to the rules.

“I have had thoughts of packing it in but when I have the community by my side it makes me determined to beat it.”

Even though Andrew has big plans ahead, with two new venues in the making, he knows that Clydebank is where the heart is.

“Clydebank is my home,” he said.

“I was born and bred in the town, so if another bar that suited me popped up I would love to take it.

“The people in Clydebank are so loving and respectful. I know that if I needed them they would be there for me.

“They are genuinely heart-warming and welcoming people, so I couldn’t be more thankful to them and everyone who has supported me.”