PITLOCHRY
Pitlochry is a small, old Victorian Scottish town situated in Perthshire. It is off of the A9 to Inverness and also has a railway station.
Pitlochry is a small Scottish town situated in Perthshire. It is off of the A9 to Inverness and also has a railway station. It is an old Victorian town with about 3,000 people; however, the population swells with tourists most of the year attracted to its many hotels, lots of B & Bs and as day trippers. It is a centre for hill walking and country pursuits.
Places around town to visit include the fish ladder at the hydroelectric power station, Blair Atholl Whisky Distillery and Edradiour Distillery . There is also the Pitlochry Festival Theatre
Further afield are the castles Blair Castle and Castle Menzies
Visit Pitlochry Theatre Blair Atholl Distillery Edradiour Distillery Fish Ladder
On a day trip.
Leaving the station, turn right away from the road and walk along a path running alongside the railway line until you reach a public garden beside a small tunnel leading under the railway line. Turn down this road and find Drummond’s at the next corner. Now walk back up, through the tunnel and onto the main road running through Pitlochry. Cross the road here.
Walk up until and turn right at the first junction onto Bonnethill Rd. The large building up on the right is Scotland’s Hotel which has Macnab’s Bar at the next corner.
Return to the main road and walk upwards the bus stops then cross over to The Coach House (the bar of Fisher’s Hotel).
Back across the road from The Coach House there is a lane leading off from the pavement follow this round to The Old Mill Inn. Leaving here, continue along the lane which will take you back to the main road. Continue up this road, under the canopy, to McKay’s Hotel on the next block. Further up the road is The Auld Smithy Inn.
If you feel like a longer walk the Golf Bar is 500yds up the road running up alongside The Auld Smithy. The road back to the station is opposite McKay’s Hotel.
Drummond’s closed
Drummond’s is a small pub with extensive outside seating in front, on decking to left of it and going down the hill behind it. Inside there is a small bar to the left and dining seating all around two seating areas.
Have a pint
Heavy (bitter): St Andrew’s Ale; Belhaven Best
Lager: Carling; Tennent’s
Cider: Strongbow Guinness
PUB QUIZ
Who 'spun around' in a pair of gold hot pants which are now sored in an air tight case to prevent them disintegrating?
Answer at foot of page
Macnab’s closed
Macnab’s is the bar of Scotland’s Hotel. It is entered by a door on the far corner of the hotel . the room is long and this with the servery along the long back wall. Cushioned wall seating with tables is along the opposite wall. Servery does not stretch to far end of room where it widens to offer more seating and TV area.
Have a half pint
Heavy (bitter): Ossian; Belhaven Best
Lager: Peroni; Tennent’s
Cider: Aspall Suffolk Guinness
The Coach House
The Coach House is the bar connected to Fisher’s Hotel. There is a large seating area between road and building. Entrance to bar takes you to a large room with the bar counter against the far wall. This is large and has a lot of space behind it to accommodate lots of staff. There are pool tables to the left of entrance. Large TV behind bar and several others dotted along the walls. There is plenty of standing room. Tables are along the wall to right of entrance leading to an area with booths at far end. Music at weekends . Meals and disabled access.
have a pint here
Real ale: Old Hoppy Hen; Old Golden Hen
Heavy (bitter): Belhaven best
Lager: Heverlee; Tennent’s
Cider: Magners Guinness
The Old Mill Inn ❤
The Old Mill Inn has a lot of outside seating along the lane at the front of the building. Further seating on raised decking overlooks a waterwheel and allows entrance to the bar.
The room is L-shaped with a L-shaped servery with fonts on both legs of the counter. The left side of the room has the longer leg and offers comfy seating and is the food ordering area. This widens out at the end with a large TV screen. The shorter leg has dining style seating in the centre and booths against the wall. The far wall has a fireplace in the middle and beyond this is further dining seating with booths to the left and tables and chairs to the right. Meals, disabled access and dog friendly.
It is popular for good food in the evening with very efficient and polite service.
Real Ale guide (CAMRA) 2016 .. 2020, 2024, 2025
Have a pint or two here
Real ale: Corncrake; Landlord; Head East (Strathbraan) Strathbraan Brewery also brews Due South, Look West and True North)
Heavy (bitter): Bellhave Best; Yardbird; Dead Pony Club
Lager: Peroni; Tennent’s; St Mungo
Cider: Aspall Suffolk Guinness
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
“People don’t drink beer. They drink marketing.”
— Freddy Heineken
McKay’s Hotel
McKay’s Hotel has a narrow walled outside seating area, either side of the entrance, which it makes the best off by using different sizes of tables and styles of seating to sit a lot of drinkers along side the main road. Inside the pub is large and open plan with several distinct drinking/seating areas. There is dining style seating to the immediate left with a large TV. Further through from this is the hotel reception and some more quiet seating. To the right of the entrance is a large area with couches and low tables, and large windows going up the side. In the middle of the room is the servery to the right, a large standing area and further dining seating opposite it, again with a large TV. Just beyond the bar and up a step is a small area with some tall tables and stools. Through from this is a large dining room which can operate as a function room with its own bar. This also has a pool table in the far corner and a large TV. meals, disabled access and dog friendly.
Music is on most Thursday to Sunday nights
Have a pint or two here
Real ale: Fair Maid; Bellhaven 80/-; Golden bay; St Andrew’s Ale; Ossian
Heavy (bitter): Bellhaven best
Lager: 1664; Ben-y-Vrackie Lager (Bellhaven); Heineken
The Auld Smithy Inn ❤
The Auld Smithy Inn is an L-shaped one room restaurant pub with two different outside seating areas. There is a front garden with six tables and large umbrellas. There is also a rear courtyard up the side of the building. The front door leads to a room with tables to left and some tables in booths to the right. The servery is on the far-left hand wall. Further round is the back door to the rear courtyard. Busy with food in early evening . Disabled access.
Have a pint here
Real ale: Red Macgregor
Heavy (bitter): Belhaven Best
Lager: The Auld Smithy Inn Lager
Cider: Strongbow Guinness
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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
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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
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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
Golf Bar
Golf Bar is the bar of the local golf club which welcomes non-members as customers for food and drink. From the road you see the back of the club house as the front of bar overlooks the golf course.
It has a large open plan room with a large square servery coming out of the back wall. The furnishings are light wood with a far and side wall of glass looking over the course. Doors lead to decking with outside seating. The right hand side has some sofas in front of a TV. Offers food
Have a pint here
Heavy (bitter): Belhaven best
Lager: 1664; Ben-y-Vrackie; One Point Two Lager (both Belhaven – the 1.2 refers to the percentage of alcohol)
Cider: Strongbow Guinness
“If you were to ask me if I’d ever had the bad luck to miss my daily cocktail, I’d have to say that I doubt it; where certain things are concerned, I plan ahead. .”
— Luis Bunel
ANSWER: Kylie Minogue