Victoria Bar, Nairn

A basic, no frills boozer in the middle of the main street down to the harbour. In some ways this has got the ingredients to be a decent bar with it’s fresh paintwork and some exposed stone walls, but somehow doesn’t quite manage to pull it off. It’s a single room affair, with the rear half dominated by a pool table and this made it tricky to get to the bar counter. There’s wood cladding around the lower half of the wall, and either cream plasterwork above, or, up the right hand side, stone walls. Elsewhere there is a maroon colour scheme, and the floor is old boards. The walls are fairly bare except for a few printed posters suggesting pub crawls around various Scottish locations. There was a plasma at either end of the bar showing Sky Sports and some heavy metal music playing. The seating was a little sparse with the pool table at the rear, and an open area in the middle of the front bar. There were some leatherette back to back benches either side reminiscent of an American diner, and a few tables and chairs elsewhere. The landlady and locals seemed friendly enough. Unfortunately there were no real ales on tap which seems to be par for the course in these parts, just keg John Smith’s. The solitary cider was Strongbow, unfortunately.