Settle Inn, Stirling

We arrived here soon after opening and were initially nonplussed by the three bare naked hand pumps which greeted us. The very friendly and welcoming landlord (he later introduced "the boss", who is his daughter) promptly reeled off the names and descriptions of the three beers that had just gone on, and gave us generous tasters of all three. After serving us he rummaged through a cardboard box until her had found the appropriate pump clips and restored the bar to a semblance of normality. He was rightly proud of the condition of his beers, and pulled a face when I told him we'd just come from the Spoons in town. Beers available at the time of our visit were Box Steam Tunnel Vision, Inveralmond Ossian and St Austell Cornish Best. (I suppose my complaint in the Spoons review about beers brought from the other end of the country could also apply to the two non-Scottish beers here, but I'll let it pass.) I'd enjoyed my visit to Stirling, but not enough to think about coming back again. Half an hour in the Settle Inn changed my mind about that.

A little tucked away between the city centre and the castle, the Settle Inn is the oldest pub in Stirling having been established in 1733. The interior is dimly lit with low beamed ceilings and the warm glow of a few lanterns. The carpeted main bar is to the right of the entrance and is a little cramped and difficult to access even with just a handful of punters present in front of it. Opposite is an area sectioned off by a few angled pews and dominated by a huge and impressive arched fireplace containing a stove. A series of sketches of the town’s prominent buildings are mounted over the fireplace and a collection of whiskey bottle boxes are on display in a cabinet and on shelving around the bar. The rear bar has a fake plastic barrel ceiling that gives the effect of being in a cave and to honest appears a bit tacky. The pub did once have a good reputation for its ales although there was only 1 available on my visit, Inveralmond Independence which was reasonably priced and decent enough quality. The pub is said to be one of the most haunted pubs in Scotland and there are stories aplenty of flickering lights, phantom customers and cold spots. To be honest, from the distinct lack of even the gloomiest of welcomes from either the customers or person behind the bar, I might just as well as been a ghost myself. Or maybe it was them.