INVERNESS

Welcome to Pub Trails - INVERNESS

One of the places visited that was so large and interesting that several trails were created for you to duplicate.

 Inverness is a city of 58,000 people in the north of Scotland. It is found at the mouth of the river Ness and is where The Caledonian Canal, which connects the east and west coasts of   Scotland starts. It is easily reached by road (A9 from the south) and rail. The city termed the Gateway to the Highlands as most tourists going to the Highlands pass through the city.

The city centre  is quite compact with several areas pedestrian only and a large shopping centre. The city is dominated by Inverness castle which is used as a courthouse.

Places to visit include;  Culloden http://www.nts.org.uk/Culloden/Home/ battlefield; Inverness Museum and Art Gallery http://inverness-scotland.com/ ; Loch Ness http://www.visitlochness.com//  (monster);  the Caledonian Canal http://www.visitlochness.com/things-to-do/caledonian-canal.php  and visit the Titanic! http://www.shipspace.co.uk/

Inverness has a mixture of different types of pubs. The vast majority of the pubs and hotels try to cater in some way for the tourists flowing through the city by offering food and entertainment, sometimes both. As a general summary the drinking places serve food, have places for singers to perform and are decorated in wood, including distressed flooring. Lager is the drink of choice with few pubs having more Heavy (Bitter) than Lager. About half of the pubs on the trail serve real ale, although only half of these offer a choice.

There are TWO trails in Inverness. One going along the river side and the other is in the town centre.

Both start at the Inverness Town House found on the corner where the High St becomes pedestrianised as the main road does a right turn becoming Castle St.

1. Around the Castle - green icons

Takes you up to the Castle and down to the river, along the river bank in front of the castle then across the Bridge. This is the most attractive and relaxing of the trails with a wide variety of pubs.

2. City Centre - blue icons

These 14 pubs reflect what you would expect to find in a city centre with a mixture of music venues, one roomed pubs, cocktail bars and food places - some try to fit more than one description.

On the city side as you move from pub to pub you will find that buskers abound - from young girls playing the pipes to old men being a one man band. Crossing traffic in Inverness can be frustrating - lights take a long time to change and traffic appears from odd angles so the trails avoid crossing main roads where possible.

Pubs in Inverness can disappear and appear regularly. As one closes another makes an attempt at capturing tourists or those escaping from tourists.

Inverness pubtrails

  • Along the riverside

    Number 27

    The Castle Tavern

    Glen Mhor

    Waterside

    Glenmoriston

    Glenalbyn

    The Waterfront

    The Thistle

    Tarry Ile

    Columba Hotel

    Palace Hotel

    Johnny Foxes

    The Gallions

    ALONG THE RIVERSIDE

  • City Centre

    The Caledonian

    Lauders

    Maccallum’s

    Gunsmiths

    Auctioneers

    R & B ( was The Room)

    Hootenany

    Kings Highway

    Blackfriars

    Bar One

    Tooth & Claw (was The Eagle)

    The Keg

    City Centre

Pub Jukebox:

Alcohol themed music to listen to while you browse.

drinking' town with a football problem - Billy Currington   

Breweries near Inverness include:

Loch Ness Brewery -  Benleva Hotel brewpub at Drumnadrochit

Black Isle Organic Brewery - 16 minutes from Inverness by car

Cairngorm Brewery - beers from Aviemore

Windswept Brewery - based in Loussiemouth

Real Ale trail - 13 pubs

Real Ale trail - 13 pubs - some have only one hand pump (1)

Come out of the station and turn right down Academy St. Look into The Exchange (it should have real ale; Highland CAMRA mag). Cross over the road and continue down it to Blackfriars. Leave here and turn down Friar's Lane, the next left, then left again into Church St.

Going along Church St brings The King's Highway, Hootenanny, The Room (1) and eventually Lauders. (1) Keep going in the same direction then turn down towards the river. Turn right, rather than go across the bridge and find Johnny Foxes (1).

Continue along the river and cross the river by the footbridge. Turn right as you come off the footbridge and walk on until The Waterfront (1).

Retrace your steps walk along the riverside but going straight on past the footbridge and past the road bridge to reach The Palace Hotel (1). Leave here and continue upstream to the next footbridge. Cross over this and turn back towards the city centre. The river bank takes you past The Waterside Hotel (1) and Nico's at Glen Mhor (1).

Keep going towards the centre turning right at the statue of Faith, Hope and Charity. Up this hill is The Castle Tavern. Further down this road, Castle St towards the city is Number 27 and at the end of the road is The Caledonian. Leaving here you can go towards the river but turn right into Church St and go up the lane at the side of Lauders to return to the station

PLACES TO VISIT WITH PUBTRAILS

 The towns and villages highlighted on this web site have a wide variety of pubs and beers in them.  All of the places are great to visit, whether for a day or longer, and most have tourist attractions for all of the family.

There is a large variety of pubs throughout the different towns shown below. Some you may wish never to visit again but even discovering these can be interesting. There are pubs that you would not take your wife into. While some you could not take your girlfriend into. A few you would not take either into. However, most of the pubs are very pleasant.

HOME MAP of places visited

Alnwick Ambleside Anstruther Bakewell Bamburgh Barnard Castle Bath Berwick upon Tweed Birnam & Dunkeld Bourton on the Water Bowness on Windermere Bridge of Allan Chester Chichester Dunblane Dunoon Edinburgh Ely Fort William Glasgow Gourock Greenock                   Helensburgh   Inverness Kelso Keswick Knaresbourgh Largs Linlithgow Lyme Regis Melrose Montrose Newton Stewart North Berwick Norwich Oban Pebbles Penzance Portree Pitlochry Quorn Richmond Rothesay St Andrews Seahouses Seend Shrewsbury Skipton Stirling Stratford-upon-Avon Stockton Heath Whitby Windemere Whitstable York

Other large places

Pub Quiz

In which country was the battle of waterloo in 1815?

Answer at foot of page

  • Books on pubs

    A selection of recommended books on pubs and their history. There are books on the social history of pubs and the design of pubs through the ages.

    There are also books on visiting pubs and ones recommending pubs to visit.

    CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide

    Death of the English Pub by Christopher Hutt

    Brewers, Brands and the Pubs in their Hands by Tony Thornton

    Licensed to Sell by Brandwood, Davidson & Slaughter

    And many more

    Books about Pubs

  • Books on Beer

    A selection of recommended books covering all aspects of beer and brewing. There are books on the history of beer and others on different styles of beer.

    For example

    An Inebriated History of Britain by Peter Haydon

    Amber, Gold & Black by Martyn Cornell

    Brew Britannia by Jessica Boak & Ray Bailey

    The Story of the Pint by Martyn Cornell

    Miracle Brew by Pete Brown

    Built to Brew by Lynn Pearson

    And many more

    Books about beer

  • Scottish pub crawls

    Craig Stevenson and John MacKay have used their bus passes to good effect. They have toured the towns and cities of Scotland visiting pubs. They recount their adventures in a series of books:

    The Auldest Boozers in Town

    The Cheap Way Round

    Still Goin’

    Inn Aff The Bar

    Goin’ Roon The Edge

    Mud, Sweat and Beers

    MAP

 I certainly do not drink all the time. I have to sleep you know.

W C Fields

ANSWER: Belgium

Know a pub we should feature? Got some questions about pubs in your area or where you’re going on holiday? Get in touch below