A POPULAR Glasgow pub is offering tipplers a swarm welcome with its resident hive of bees.
But far from being an infestation nightmare, it's all for a good cause.
The Griffin, in the city centre's Bath Street, is now home to more than 30,000 of the insects in a bid to increase, and raise awareness of, urban beekeeping.
Owner Robert Mullen, known as Bobsie, decided to get the beehive to help the insects in their plight against a fatal virus linked to a bloodsucking parasite.
The number of honeybees in the UK has almost halved since 1990.
Bobsie, 44, said: "I wanted to do my bit because bees are in trouble - and we could start getting our own Griffin honey out of it."
The bar's colony is being kept at the back of the building in a small garden filled with flowers for the bees to pollinate.
But only time will tell if the bees, which have been in their new home for only three weeks, will thrive.
Bobsie, who boasted no-one had yet been stung, but he admitted: "Quite a lot of things can go wrong.
"There might not be enough pollen or flowers. We need the colony to establish itself first."
Honeybees play an integral role in the natural world by acting as a cross-pollinator and are estimated to be worth around £1bn to UK agriculture.
The Griffin bees have a two-mile radius, so they can visit nearby Kelvingrove Park to top up on pollen.
And if the Queen Bee decides to leave the nest, a beekeeper will have to coax her back to the hive so that her colony doesn't leave to look for a new home.
Warren Bader, of Motherwell-based biodiversity firm Plan Bee, said urban beekeeping was "hugely important".
He added: "It is helping the whole bee population because the pesticides used in the country are poisoning bee colonies.
"And the diversification in cities makes for good foraging. The virus is an issue too.
"There is no doubt bees are in danger."
Jo Mackenzie, who works behind the bar in the Griffin, was delighted when his boss told him the bar would be keeping bees.
"I just thought: 'magic' and got involved with the garden. I love Bobsie's crazy ideas."
It is not the first quirky stunt the pub has pulled.
The Griffin became famous for its tongue-in-cheek humour displayed on street chalkboards outside the bar.
Some of Bobsie's most famous lines include 'Good food, average service' and 'Glasgow Smiles Better(ish)'.
In March, the Evening Times told how Glasgow City Council handed the pub a notice to remove the advertising boards.
They said placing them on the pavement was illegal and caused an obstruction.
However, Bobsie, who has run bars in Glasgow for almost 25 years, got round this ban by chopping the legs off the board and sticking them to the railings outside.
He said: "We brought the boards back about two weeks ago.
"It's one of the things we're known for - so we had to find a way somehow."
rachel.loxton@ heraldandtimes.co.uk