Tag Archives: sc2022

Scotland

The Cross Keys Hotel

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Canonbie, Dumfries & Galloway:

Whatpub Link

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.

Scotland

The Stag

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Aberdeen:

Whatpub Link
Website

Nice city-centre pub with really friendly, helpful staff. Decent beer, decent food. The staff helped us find a table that wasn’t a high one. There was quite a delay on food, I think there was a problem in the kitchen, but the staff apologised, so all good there. Interior traditional Scottish, with the head of (unsurprisingly) a stag looking down on us.

Scotland

The Grill

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Aberdeen:

Whatpub Link
Website
Pub Heritage Link

Star pub of the holiday. Beautifully restored 1926 interior, wood panelling. Really pleasant staff.

Austere from the outside- the windows are small and etched, with clear sections previously used for signs, but the inside is a place of wonder.

This was a male-only pub until that became banned by law in 1976. As payback, the ladies toilet, which was (obviously) the gents, is upstairs, the gents being down a steep staircase in the basement, but they had to wait until 1998 to get it!

Large whisky selection, great beer, decent wine, lovely surroundings.

Scotland

The Balmoral Bar

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Ballater:

We liked this the most of the pubs in Ballater. For a start, no blurred lines here- this is a bar, not a hotel. Secondly, MournHub was on but volume was low.

The best beer we had in Ballater, nice staff, decent-looking food (a chap nearby was having a curry which looked great). As you’d expect, it’s very much a tourist pub with the tartan etc, but it wasn’t bad at all.

Scotland

The Stag Hotel

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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!

Scotland

The Douglas Arms

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Banchory:

Whatpub Link
Website

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.

Scotland

The Banchory Lodge Hotel

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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.

Scotland

The Burnett Arms Hotel

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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 🙁