Haberdashery Bar, Dunfermline

The front of the Haberdashery Bar is decked out as a haberdashery that is so realistic they’ve had to put a sign in the shop saying that this is actually a bar. Beyond the shop is a corridor that winds its way past a few snugs with tables set for dining to a small rear bar area where a serving counter faces rearwards to more dining tables. The bar seating is either the four stools along the counter or four more stools along a beer shelf. There was some lively background music playing and the barmaid was very friendly, but there was no atmosphere generated from the few customers in on a recent Tuesday evening. The draught options from the bar were Grene King’s Level Head, Estrella Galicia, Belhaven Black, The Habrador Lager (I assume the owner’s dog is a Labrador), Belhaven Black and four flavours of Thatchers cider. I went for the Estrella that was reasonably priced at £2.50 for a half. This is a unique and quirky place that I’ll not be revisiting now that I’ve been.

With front of the building now mocked up as a haberdashery shop and the entrance to the bar now at the rear and accessed along the vennel to the left, it was no surprise to find the bar counter being a haberdasher's glass-fronted counter, with buttons and cotton reels. No real ale will also not be a surprise, and I went for a half of Lagunitas IPA 5.5%, which was cold, fizzy and lacking in any discernable flavour. I'd have been happy to sit inside and take in the new surroundings, but it was just after opening time and there was a dominant scent of cleaning materials, bleach to the fore, which is very off-putting in a drinking establishment, so we went and sat in the garden, which luckily had some shelter from the prevailing wind off the Firth of Forth.