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Settle Inn, Stirling
Stirling
FK8 1BU
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Quinno _ left this review about Settle Inn
Aged building (1733, apparently) with a rural feeling; wood and stone interior that felt a bit cold and foreboding despite the roaring fire. Quiet pub with a fairly mute barmaid and a ticking clock for company, fortunately we struck-up conversation with another pair of tourists. GBG’24 listed and there were two cask on over three sticks from Kelburn and Spey, both NBSS 3, plus a rare sighting of Tennants Special on keg. Odd one – I suspect if I were a local regular I’d get a warmer feeling but I never really settled (boom boom!) here.
On 29th January 2024
- rating: 7
[User has posted 5089 recommendations about 5072 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Ian Mapp left this review about Settle Inn
Good Beer Guide 2020 Entry.
Small bar with fierce coal burner. larger back room, with Bingo on a Monday night :-)
Two hand pulls - surprisingly Hobgoblin and Tribute. What happened to national pride?
Tribute nicely kept.
On 4th October 2019
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1338 recommendations about 1324 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about Settle Inn
This quaint rural-style pub claims to be Stirling’s oldest public house, supposedly dating back to 1733, and it certainly looks and feels like a nice old historic pub. You enter into a tidy little front bar with the servery immediately along the right-hand wall. The bar has a nice dark wood counter and bar back under rustic criss-crossing beams. The front of the room boasts some pleasant wood panelling whilst the rest of the walls are exposed stone which includes an impressive arch on the left-hand wall beneath which there was a lit stove which was doing a fine job of keeping us all warm and cosy. Fairy lights have been strung around the place, helping to create a nice ambiance through muted lighting, whilst mirrors, old photographs and a well-stocked bookcase rounded out the décor. Two L-shaped banquettes provide the majority of the seating although most of the punters were sat on stools along the bar. A door leads through into a rear room which has plenty more seating and appears to have been hewn out of the rock in the hillside behind the pub, making it a very atmospheric spot. A decent ‘70’s rock soundtrack was playing in the background and probably reflected the tastes of the pub’s main customer base, which seemed to be middle-aged blokes, although a couple of confused looking students wandered in just as I was on my way out.
They had three ales on at the bar – Hanlon’s Yellowhammer, Caledonian Piston Broke and Lee’s Phantom. The latter was a reasonable £3.20 for a pint and was a well-kept drop of ale served to me by a friendly, welcoming barmaid.
I managed to walk right past this place earlier in the day without even spotting it, as it is a little out of the way and perhaps not where you expect to find a good pub, but I’d say it is well worth seeking out for some good beer in a very warm and welcoming environment. Probably the pick of the pubs I visited on my short tour around Stirling.
On 20th March 2018
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Will Larter left this review about Settle Inn
We arrived here soon after opening and were initially nonplussed by the three bare naked hand pumps which greeted us. The very friendly and welcoming landlord (he later introduced "the boss", who is his daughter) promptly reeled off the names and descriptions of the three beers that had just gone on, and gave us generous tasters of all three. After serving us he rummaged through a cardboard box until her had found the appropriate pump clips and restored the bar to a semblance of normality. He was rightly proud of the condition of his beers, and pulled a face when I told him we'd just come from the Spoons in town. Beers available at the time of our visit were Box Steam Tunnel Vision, Inveralmond Ossian and St Austell Cornish Best. (I suppose my complaint in the Spoons review about beers brought from the other end of the country could also apply to the two non-Scottish beers here, but I'll let it pass.) I'd enjoyed my visit to Stirling, but not enough to think about coming back again. Half an hour in the Settle Inn changed my mind about that.
On 24th March 2017
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3745 recommendations about 3482 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about Settle Inn
A little tucked away between the city centre and the castle, the Settle Inn is the oldest pub in Stirling having been established in 1733.
The interior is dimly lit with low beamed ceilings and the warm glow of a few lanterns. The carpeted main bar is to the right of the entrance and is a little cramped and difficult to access even with just a handful of punters present in front of it. Opposite is an area sectioned off by a few angled pews and dominated by a huge and impressive arched fireplace containing a stove. A series of sketches of the town’s prominent buildings are mounted over the fireplace and a collection of whiskey bottle boxes are on display in a cabinet and on shelving around the bar. The rear bar has a fake plastic barrel ceiling that gives the effect of being in a cave and to honest appears a bit tacky.
The pub did once have a good reputation for its ales although there was only 1 available on my visit, Inveralmond Independence which was reasonably priced and decent enough quality.
The pub is said to be one of the most haunted pubs in Scotland and there are stories aplenty of flickering lights, phantom customers and cold spots. To be honest, from the distinct lack of even the gloomiest of welcomes from either the customers or person behind the bar, I might just as well as been a ghost myself. Or maybe it was them.
On 11th April 2012
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]