Heswall, Chesire:
This is a hotel, really, but it’s on Whatpub.
Perhaps it being a hotel is why is didn’t click for us, the first problem being approached by a member of staff as we walked through the door: it felt un-pubby.
There was a lot to like here: the beer was great, the food was good, the staff were pleasant, the decor classy and traditional. It just felt like it was missing a bit of soul.
Parkgate, Cheshire:
The only remaining actual hotel in Parkgate. Downstairs, though, is gastropub, and the food fits as well, being a sizeable step above pub food.
As a pub, it’s pretty good too. Opened out, but with zones, so one area feels more pubby, others are clearly intended for eating. Traditional decor. Decent beer, great staff, and the aforementioned food is great too.
There’s outdoor space too, but it fills up quickly on a sunny day.
Canonbie, Dumfries & Galloway:
Our southbound overnight stop, just about in Scotland. We arrived at just before 3pm, to find it locked, but happily by 3pm, our check-in time, one of the owners turned up, checked us in, and served us a drink shortly later, so comfortably by 4 we were sat outside in the early autumn sunshine with cold beer and wine.
It’s a big old coaching inn, with 10 bedrooms, a bar/lounge, and a seperate restaurant. We ate in the bar. Friendly locals, lovely staff, decent food. No ale, but decent lager. Comfortable room too, and loads of decent parking over the road.
Currently up for sale if anyone fancies it.
Ballater:
We walked straight past this: the good beer guide says The Glenaden Hotel, Google maps says The Glenaden Hotel. The sign says The Barrel Lounge.
Anyway: it was OK. Unexceptional. MournHub was playing so we moved seats away from the TV. Beer decent enough but otherwise tourist-trade Scottish hotel bar.
Ballater:
Much discussion over including this. We have to blur the lines in Scotland, and have been doing so for years, but having to wait to be seated felt un-pubby.
Lunch was OK but not spectacular, and my beer wasn’t terrible but had seen better days, and the welcome was a bit more brusque than welcoming. By no means awful, but could have been better,
Banchory, Aberdeenshire:
The most, erm, vibrant-looking hotel in town, but you know what? It was pleasant. Inside is basic rather than plush, but the noisier bar is seperate, the landlord is very friendly, and while there’s no ale and the “craft” keg is Greene King, there is Staropramen :-), and there’s whisky-flavour condoms available in the bogs, for that special occasion!
Banchory:
Pleasant hotel with a nice lounge at the back, and a sun terrace beyond that. Great beer (Cairngorm IPA in good condition) and really friendly owner, nice lunchtime food, but sadly no evening meals at present due to staff difficulties.
Sadly the heritage interior public bar is now a coffee shop, with the bar being at the back in the lounge. The lounge itself is pleasant- modern but not soulless.
Banchory, Aberdeenshire:
We popped in for Sunday lunch, and discussed the viability of this place for PubBlog: was this a pub? The line is often blurred, and in Scotland more so. We decided, after lunchtime and when the crowds had cleared, that the bar was pubish enough.
Fantastic food, pleasant staff. Beer was keg but entirely reasonable, surroundings really pleasant- an elegant hotel by the riverside.
Banchory, Aberdeenshire:
We’d been here before, but that was before PubBlog.
We think the layout has changed a bit, but not massively. It’s a hotel, but as usual the bar is a pub. There’s outside space on a former car park, and there’s a restaurant and a lobby area as well.
No ale, but some crafty-type keg and decent lager, Decent enough, if unexceptional, food too. Pleasant staff, but on a Sunday evening some of the the locals could have done with silencers- a conversation in a relatively quiet bar being carried out at yelling volume 🙁
Longtown, Cumbria:
Our hotel for an overnight stop on our journey north, but clearly a local pub too, the other being The Tavern.
This is the plusher pub, and it’s clearly had a bit of money spent. Great staff, decent enough food, cask ale. TVs were showing MournHub, but not at high volume. Slight downer from local gammons with a show of ignorant racism *and* sexism, but at least they were non-violent.