Love stories at the Ubiquitous Chip, Glasgow’s most romantic restaurant

National World - LocalTV

We visit the Ubiquitous Chip, one of Glasgow’s oldest restaurants to listen to some of the love stories ahead of Valentine’s Day.

Transcript

00:00I had a quarter bottle of Ehrlinger champagne in a plastic bottle, and I said, would you like some champagne?

00:06No expense there.

00:08And the rest they say is history.

00:10I'm Roddy and this is Marion.

00:12I'm Marion.

00:14Each of us was here on a Tuesday night.

00:16I was in with one friend and we were sitting at the bar and bemoaning something, whatever had happened.

00:22And then you came over and said, let me buy you a drink.

00:26So I was like, okay.

00:28And then I said to my friend, I can't buy him a drink of that, dammit.

00:32So I bought a pint and put it on the table.

00:35I think the reason the chip is so special is because of how long it's been here.

00:39So it's been here over 50 years.

00:42So people have come and met here and then got married,

00:45and then they come here for their children's graduations,

00:48and then their children meet people here.

00:50That's one version of it.

00:52She was with a friend whom I had worked with previously, so I knew somebody to say hello to.

00:56But I had said to my friend Davy that I was with an interesting looking girl up at the bar there.

01:00So he knew I was making my move.

01:02So that was smart.

01:04And I bought her a drink.

01:06People can come for a romantic meal at the chip.

01:08You can meet somebody in the bar at the chip on a Friday and Saturday night.

01:12People seem to find the wee pub particularly romantic

01:15because it's a small little warm place, you know,

01:18where you can snuggle up and have a whiskey together.

01:20Pretty much time to go.

01:22So I said, right, I'm just going to knit to the loo.

01:24So I went downstairs to the loo and came back up.

01:26It was closing time really, so we just all got up to go together.

01:29But, and I deny this for the rest of my life.

01:32Davy said to me when she came back up from the loo,

01:34he said, she didn't go down there for a wee.

01:36She went down to put on a face.

01:38Not true. Ever.

01:40And I still deny it 30 odd years down the line.

01:43You can't go an evening in here without somebody coming in for an anniversary

01:47or, you know, a date night or something.

01:50And I've known lots of members of staff I've worked with over the last decade

01:55and met each other whilst working at the restaurant.

01:57As we got to the corner of the lay,

01:59we just kind of walked around the same way.

02:01My friend and your friend just vanished.

02:04It was like the red arrows, they just disappeared and left us two.

02:07It was like, where have they gone?

02:08And we looked everywhere.

02:09That's really odd.

02:10One was a chef and one was a waitress

02:12and they went on to have two kids

02:14and open their own restaurant after meeting here.

02:16So it was quite nice.

02:17I was en route to where she lives

02:19so we walked round, we went up to my flat

02:21and I knew how to treat a girl well in those days

02:23because I had a quarter bottle of Aer Lingus champagne

02:26in a plastic bottle

02:28and I said, would you like some champagne?

02:30No expense there.

02:32And it happened that she did like champagne

02:34so she drank it all because it was only that much.

02:36And that was my first romantic gesture.

02:39A quarter plastic bottle of Aer Lingus champagne.

02:42And the rest they say is history.

02:44Well then I walked her round to where she lived

02:46Marion lived a bit further on.

02:48And we made a date to see each other again

02:50and that was it.

02:52And then three years later

02:54we were married on the anniversary of the day we met

02:56because we met on a Tuesday

02:58and three years later it was a Saturday

03:00so that was perfect.

03:01And so now every June 27th

03:03we celebrate too.

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