Sergeants' Mess Bar, Shetland

The unusual name is explained by the fact that this was once the Sergeants’ Mess Bar of the now abandoned RAF Saxa Vord. Following the station’s closure about a decade ago, the site has been transformed into the Saxa Vord Resort, comprising hostel accommodation, self catering kitchens, a TV lounge, a billiard room, a library with internet access and a restaurant, in addition to the bar. Residents are a mix of holidaymakers, birdwatchers and workers at the vast oil terminal nearby at Sullom Voe. Together they ensure that the bar is usually busy at night. Springer’s Bar, at the Baltasound Hotel a couple of miles south of here, claims to be the most northerly pub in Britain, but, as the Sergeants’ Mess is now open to the public, it has a superior claim to this distinction. Unfortunately, its former role shows through in its current appearance and atmosphere as a rather bland little lounge with few distinguishing features. There is a small beer garden outside, but, surrounded as it is by accommodation blocks, it has the feel of a hotel lounge rather than a pub. There is an excellent, if expensive, restaurant adjoining the bar, offering fish which, I was assured, were swimming around the North Sea a couple of hours beforehand. Given how far away it is from the nearest competition, the £2.90 I paid for a pint of Tennent’s lager was very reasonable. The only other beer on draught was Guinness, although the hand pump, according to the barman, normally offers Valhalla Ale, brewed, literally, just across the road. Valhalla Brewery’s other Shetland Ales, Island Bere, Old Scatness, White Wife, Auld Rock, Simmer Dim and Siolmet Stout are all available in bottles. As a pub, the Sergeant’s Mess is no better than ordinary, but if you’re looking for a drink in the vicinity, you might as well go there as it’s a long way to anywhere else. And you’ll be able to say you’ve been in the most northerly pub in the British Isles.