ReviewAfter a nice morning walking along the beach admiring the local seal population, I retreated to this cosy pub and hotel on the fringes of the eponymous village. The main entrance wasn’t open when I arrived, so I walked around to the function room entrance where a set of double doors leads you into a lobby area with the bar through a door to the left. The bar is at the back of the room, close to the point of entry, and has a simple dark wood counter and modern bar back with a pub mirror in the centre. To the right is a large picture of some old cottages in the village which has been blown up to fill the entire wall space. A banquette here serves a couple of tables in the space I was informed was for drinkers. Opposite the bar is a nice space with several tables set up for diners plus on large table with tub chairs which I was told I could also sit at (the pub was practically empty, so I’m not sure why they were being so fussy about where I could sit). There is a big fireplace on one wall with a stove inside, a smart drinks cabinet full of old whisky bottles, various old local photos on the walls and a TV in the front corner showing endless promotional guff. Over to the left side of the room, where the pub opens out a considerable distance, there is a standard dining room area with plenty of tables and chairs, plainer décor and another TV screen. Light fixtures throughout the pub are made from deer antlers, which looked a bit naff. There is a large car park outside and a kid’s playground on the other side of the road whilst the bus to and from Aberdeen stops right outside.
The landlady gave me a friendly welcome and explained exactly where I could sit before nipping to the bar to pull my pint and then bring it over to me. They only had Greene King IPA on when I arrived, but this was a mid-week morning in the middle of winter, so that can perhaps be excused. It was in a passable state and had I known my bus back to the city was running 35 minutes late, I would’ve stayed for another.
I found this to be quite a smart pub which was perhaps a little too geared towards food service, but given their location, you can’t really blame them. I was happy to stop off here and whilst I didn’t find it a particularly memorable place, I’d stop in again if I was visiting the beach in the future.
