ReviewHaving journeyed to Campbelltown the afternoon before and found the Commercial Inn closed and not liking to be outdone, I returned on Friday evening. Finding opening times for pubs in Argyll is a bit of a nightmare. The CAMRA website suggests it is open for 14 hours each day! I'd spoken to locals on my Thursday visit to the Feathers nextdoor. They had been surprised that the pub had been open on the previous evening. Contact numbers are useless. The main one is unobtainable and another I found took me to some sort of decorator!
However, I did find the pub open on Friday evening. This was the last pub in Campbelltown to have made the Good Beer Guide (2007!). A visit to this southern Argyll outpost will display exactly why. It is more of a place for alcoholics than real ale fans.
These days, cask ale is absent from the Commercial. Keg options were Mahou, Moretti, Magners Dark Fruit, Orchard Pig Reveller, Tennents, Madri, Caledonia Best & Guinness. I helped bring the average age up when I walked in. There were lots of boisterous youngsters knocking back plenty of shots. The barmaid didn't look long out of school herself. However, I wasn't quite the oldest there. I went and occupied a stool near the bar, next to an old fellow who was struggling to stand up and was regularly belching.
The pub has very little character and a basic laminate floor. An area to the left of the entrance has a pool table, whilst there appeared to be a slightly quieter area off to the right. Music was blaring and football was being shown on a TV behind the bar. There were possibly others but this pub was really not worth exploring.
It's a nice drive to and from Campbelltown, but if you're looking for pubs, don't bother!
