Plockton Hotel, Plockton

The Plockton Hotel feels much more like a pub that a hotel/restaurant. We arrived into the cosy front bar to find a group of lads watching the England rugby game and an elderly lady with an iPad or similar. Unfortunately, there was nobody to serve us. The rest of my party went to the toilet whilst waiting for somebody to serve. They returned and I decided to do the same, coming to the decision that if nobody had appeared by the time I returned to the bar, we would depart. Luckily, the barmaid did appear in time and we could choose between Orkney Island Life or Cromarty Happy Chappy. Despite being far from happy, I went for the Cromarty beer, which was consumed whilst perusing the oddity that is rarely found nowadays - a local CAMRA magazine. Not a bad pub, but could be so much better with more attentive staff.

The remains of the annual beer festival were still in evidence when we were here, but the beer menu was back to just three available across the two bars inside the hotel building. These were all pale - whatever happened to malty Scottish ales? The available ales were helpfully listed on a blackboard, colour-coded (P). At least this suggests that darker beers are occasionally available. Plockton is a lovely place but I find the two remaining pubs a little disappointing. Date of visit: 5th June 2015