ALTHOUGH it may not look like much from the outside, step inside Glassford Street's Steps Bar and you will be transported back to a more elegant age.

The pub, refitted in 1938, is one of the few remaining original Art Deco bars in the city; the interior a symphony of black Vitrolite, polished wood panelling, sleek chrome metalwork and stunning stained glass.

Named for the two steps which lead up to the door (a stumbling block which has caught out countless generations of Glaswegian topers), once inside everything is plain sailing, particularly when you spot the stained glass image of the Cunard liner the RMS Queen Mary, built at Clydebank and launched in 1936, hidden away in the back snug.

Rumour has it that it was the same skilled tradesmen who fitted out the liner who did out the pub in their spare time, using materials 'borrowed' from the yard.