A unique venue...

The Riverside Bar is proud to house the stunning ‘FALLS OF CLYDE’ landscape mural by the famous Scottish author and artist ALASDAIR GRAY.

Alasdair painted the twenty-five by four foot mural in 1969 when the pub (then called the Tavern) was being extended. For the five or six weeks to complete he spent the nights in a sleeping bag on the floor of the open gallery, which overlooked the lounge. He said he woke around 4am each morning, had a tea or coffee and often a couple of nips of whisky from the gantry, and worked till around noon when he then usually went in to Lanark for breakfast. His agreement with the pub owner, Jim Campbell, was that "only if Jim liked it would he get paid at the end of the job"!

In the sixties and seventies he made a considerable name for himself as an artist, mainly of murals, and featured in a 1964 BBC documentary. In the eighties and nineties he became even more famous as an author, his most acclaimed work being the novel ‘LANARK’. Now his art is being re-discovered and he is listed as one of the top one hundred Scots of the twentieth century and one of Scotland’s greatest artists.

The ‘FALLS OF CLYDE’ is unique amongst Alasdair's murals as it is the only one that features an actual physical existing (not imaginary) landscape and, of course, the most popular landscape in the Clyde Valley. It is also one of only three murals he has painted outside Glasgow. Interestingly it is also the only one to feature "a Lanark", albeit Alasdair's famed novel is about a character named Lanark and not the historic town.

Alasdair has very fond memories of the work and on a recent visit stated it was his personal favourite. Unfortunately the mural, like the rest of the building, had been badly treated and neglected particularly over the past dozen or so years. In fact the painting was only revealed again in 2007 after some fifteen years under wallpaper and paint! Thankfully Alasdair, a sprightly seventy four year old, has recreated some lost areas of the work and with the help of professional artwork restorer the mural is back to it's original vibrant glory for it's fortieth anniversary in 2009.