The Pillars, Dundee

Dundee has done well to hold onto a decent set of old pubs and this one merits a * rating on the CAMRA heritage list. Inside is a single small red and green oblong room with some jumbo paintings on the wall (one of which depicts a battle scene of some sort) and a rather fetching red gold and green backlit picked glass above the bar with the pub’s name. Apparently there’s also another room beyond but we didn’t catch sight of it. An unclipped pump existed at the bar but when questioned the friendly- but somewhat clueless - barmaid gave it a tug and got merely a splutter. I ended-up with a keg, recalled as Tennants though Untappd wasn’t accessed by me to confirm as I was engaged in intense conversation by a jolly, if somewhat well-refreshed, local character who looked and acted like a female version of a Tom Baker’s Dr Who. Tidy enough place, could be even better with a decent cask on.

This is a funny little city centre bar with a really strange vibe and is apparently a bit of a Dundee institution. Entering into the right-hand side of the pub, you find yourself in a terracotta tile floored room with a dark wood bar counter down the left-hand wall. A curved padded banquette with a fair few patches on it runs along the right-hand wall beneath a huge painting depicting some sort of battle scene. Aside from that, the seating is limited to a few bar stools squeezed into a tight space under the front window or along the bar counter. The high arched bar back has a couple of nice stained glass panes set into it with the pub’s name above and an alcove to one side full of information about he pub’s history. A couple more stained glass panes can be found above the door to the toilets and the walls throughout are decorated with old paintings and mirrors, with a juke box over to one side and a TV showing ITV News in another corner. A sign points the way through to the lounge bar, which sees you pass through a rather nondescript no-man’s-land with limited bench seating and plain walls, into the lower level lounge with bare floorboards and a dark wood servery along the left-hand wall. The room has an Aladdin’s cave feel to it, with loads of flashing lights and sparkling beads above the bar and a large collection of cool looking lanterns. An L-shaped banquette to the front offers the main bulk of the seating options, with only low stools through the remainder of the room. Other items of interest in here included a mannequin that had been given a punk makeover in the front window, a framed Culture Club record and another juke box which serves just the lounge bar, as there were indie and hipster tunes playing in the lounge, in contrast to the 60’s pop coming from the other bar. The pub doesn’t really major on real ale, but they did have a handpull on the bar which may see some action at the weekend, but was sadly unclipped on my midweek visit. I ended up with a pint of McEwan’s 80/- which was drinkable and served to me by a friendly enough hipster barman. This is a really unusual pub that very much felt like a pub of two halves to me. I liked the traditional top bar and thought the lower lounge was quite a fun space, if not really to my taste. The place was let down by the lack of decent beer, but I’m still glad I stopped off to check out this little oddity.