Tag Archives: Scotland

Scotland

The Village Inn

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Fairlie, Near Largs:

Very first impressions weren’t so good, but we soon found out how wrong we were.

The first impressions weren’t helped by a bus driver not stopping when requeseted, so we ended up walking about 1/2 mile back. When we got in, there were a large group of people stood around the bar, blocking access. The landlord was keen to help, but a bit /too/ keen for my annoyed state of mind at that point. However, this was just me being grumpy.

We got settled, got a beer, and relaxed. Beer was great, the landlord turned out to be really friendly, really keen to do well, and a generally nice bloke. He’d taken over a few weeks ago- the pub has had a chequered history of late, open, shut, open again, shut again. Food excellant, and good value. Inside to the left is aimed towards dining, to the right is a traditional bar, both clean and tidy, but not devoid of atmosphere. Deserves to do well.

Scotland

The Black Bull Inn

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Rothesay, Isle of Bute:

Not terribly inspiring from outside- it looks like a shop frontage, and the sign is a plaing black and white full-width job, but inside is lovely; traditonal. The front half of the pub has a notice that you may be asked to move to the back of the pub at busy food times if not eating, but when we visited (for food and drink) a chap was just sat reading the paper, and a couple of older ladies dropped in for coffee. Moving to the back wouldn’t be a hardship anyway, unless all the seats were full.

Great food, great beer, and very friendly staff.

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Blackfriars Bar

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Merchant City, Glasgow:

In a street of bars and eateries, this is a big ,modern, open plan bar/pub, all stripped wood floors, but it had one of the better selections of cask ale, had outside space, and was en route to other pubs on our hit list, and it was actually quite nice, if a bit modern and trendy for the likes of me: staff were pleasant, beer was fine.

Scotland

The Royal George Hotel

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Millport, Isle of Cumbrae:

Right next to the bus stop for the ferry, so we dropped in. Technically a hotel, but the bar was very pubby, if a bit grotty and unexceptional. Looked like it may get a bit “vibrant” on a Friday/saturday night. No cask ale, so I was drinking Scottish lout, but the no ale thing is a bit of a feature in Scotland. Staff pleasant enough, and it was OK, but a definite disappointment after Frasers Bar.

Scotland

Frasers Bar

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Millport, Isle of Cumbrae:

Ayrshire & Wigtownshire CAMRA‘s 2018 pub of the year 2018, and well deserved. We missed the presentation of the award by one day.

Inside is smart and clean without deing devoid of atmosphere. The front part is bar, the back part family area and restaurant, and we saw that being enforced, so the front is adult space. 2 cask ales on when we visited, one being Jaw Spinnaker, which was frankly wonderful. Friendly, helpful staff, and good food too. Probably the best pub of our trip; definitely the best outside Glasgow. If it hadn’t required a ferry trip, we’d have been in more.