A popular Uddingston hotel celebrates a special birthday today.
Angels Hotel was first opened on April 12, 1979 and was soon to be crowned the best pub in Lanarkshire in 1981.
Celtic legend Harry Hood, bought the pub 40 years ago as a new project for him and his family for when he retired from his footballing career.
He said: “I knew I had to have something in place to do when I stopped playing – I didn’t have a trade and had ignored my education because of football.
“I was on a bus with the rest of the players after a game in Edinburgh and we were going past this pub, the Sherwood Manor in Viewpark, and I overheard Jimmy Johnstone saying to Billy McNeill that it had potential. The following Monday, I put an offer in.”
Although his football career was far from over, Harry continued to keep his eye on the trade. He spotted a pub in Bellshill called the Iron Maiden, which was said to be the ‘in’ place to go.
He added: “I thought to myself, if Bellshill can have an ‘in’ place, Uddingston can too – and that’s how Angels came about.
“It has always been our flagship, and today Angels continues to stand its ground.”
The hotel recently underwent a huge refurbishment with the introduction of Harry’s Bar - which was named as a tribute to the Hoops legend by his family and came as a complete surprise to him.
At the unveiling of the new bar Harry met up with Frenchman Moussa Dembele who was playing with Celtic at the time.
Harry scored three goals in a match against Rangers back in 1973 – a feat that wasn’t equalled in an Old Firm game until 2017 by Dembele.
Amazingly, both players scored the perfect hat-trick – left foot, right foot and header – and both in the same order.
Angels plan to celebrate their big birthday throughout the year with a host of events being organised at the hotel.
They are currently looking for any old pictures and stories from the last 40 years and have made a plea on their Facebook page with the winner receiving a fantastic afternoon tea for four.
