Notorious hostel the Bellgrove Hotel has been described by politicians as a "Soviet gulag" and a "modern-day poorhouse".

Manager Joe McKee admits the complex he has overseen for two decades is "the bottom rung of the ladder" but in an exclusive interview with the Evening Times the former homelessness outreach worker insists much of the criticism is undeserved.

The imposing building in the Gallowgate currently houses around 140 men aged between 30 and 80-years-old and is the last of the large-scale hostels in the city.

The residents have their own private rooms but when the Evening Times was given exclusive access to the Bellgrove many of them were sitting in stairwells clutching bottles of booze or drinking together at tables in a TV room.

East end MSP John Mason has described conditions as "grim, Dickensian, like a Soviet gulag", while Scottish Parliament colleague Anne McTaggart called it a place that "epitomises deprivation and squalor - in every sense, it is a modern-day poorhouse".

Mr McKee said the groundswell of public opinion against the Bellgrove almost led to its closure last year.

"There was a time when the pressure was that much that I thought the owners were going to put a key in the door," he said.

"But nobody knows where these guys would go, no matter what agency you talk to.

"We're not ideal. In the homelessness scene we'd probably be on the bottom rung of the ladder.

"But that's the clientele we get and somebody has to deal with them. A lot of these guys can't get anywhere else."

Glasgow City Council stopped referring homeless people to the Bellgrove Hotel four years ago but the number of people who end up there is growing.

Mr McKee said: "Technically speaking this is a business, so it looked at the time when we stopped getting referrals our numbers would drop and continue to drop and eventually that would mean the business wasn't viable.

"At that time I had 135 people in. I now have 142 and the numbers haven't dropped. That's without official referrals.

"I've got a lot of time for the people who work on the frontline in the homelessness casework teams because as far as I am concerned they got their legs cut off. They used to interview people and be able to give them beds.

"There obviously is a massive shortage now. There was supposed to be beds put in place to replace the ones at the hostels that were closed. I don't know where they are.

"My numbers would suggest they are not in place because we still get people."

Mr McKee has a background in working with homeless people having spent eleven years with the Wayside charity before taking over the management of the Bellgrove and its eighteen staff.

He said: "I knew the infrastructure wasn't right. There was probably a wee bit of ego that I could come in and change it straight away but I soon got my eyes opened.

"We had big environmental health problems. There was two periods when the kitchen was shut for a month. The guys didn't suffer. We had to hire a mobile kitchen the first time, and the second time I hired a local cafe.

"The place needed totally changed. We have tried to do that. The doctors are in once a week to hold a surgery. The nurses and social workers are in whenever they want to be in.

"We have a charity doing an advice surgery on Thursday afternoons. On Friday another charity does a bingo night for the guys.

"If somebody comes in here and they want help, I'll get them the help by getting them linked in with services."

Mr McKee also dismissed claims that the building is infested with vermin and when pressed on this he produced a print out of an email sent to him in March 2014 by the council's environmental health department which stated: "We attended unannounced and found the complex to be clean and tidy. We found no evidence of Rattus norvegicus within the building and nothing externally."

Mr McKee said: "The environmental health, the police, and the fire brigade - they inspect us so that we can get a licence. We are passed by all of them.

"People can say what they want about the Bellgrove. It doesn't matter to me if they've never been in.

"If they have been in they're entitled to their opinion and, as far as I'm concerned, it's an open door."