“Where’s my Scottish pub !” you ask, tiring now of all this relentless natural beauty.
HERE is your pub, the only one I saw in Tobermory with the Macdonald Arms seemingly closed.
So let’s do the famous yellow one (someone painted it black a while ago and got lynched).
The Mishnish seemed to have noise within (Ariane Grande and Chaka Chan, mostly), so in we went.
It’s like a pub in London, or St Andrews, which is the same thing. Dark wood, confused foreign tourists (from Dumbarton not Detroit), beer barrels and whiskey menus. And high prices; a pint and a pot of tea cost £7.60.
But it has character. And giggling girls. And those weird brass taps you get in Scotland.
And, bewilderingly, service at the bar.
You heard me right. “Order your drinks at the bar“. I guess that’s because Mull is in Scottish Covid Tier 0.5.
“Can I lick the handpumps as well please“. I’ll take that as a no. You only get that in Tier Zero+.
Sadly, the IPA was off (Boo !!!) so I had to have the house beer.
“Who brews the house beer ?” I asked, giving myself away as a CAMRA in the hope of a discount.
“It’s an 80/ “ was the reply. Well, I didn’t care anyway.
We got to sit where we liked, too, and picked this seat near the bar, where we could observe a series of mishaps.
The Wi-Fi was broken, the coffee machine awaiting repair (hence tea) and they’re out of cheese & onion crisps.
But the staff (and customers) were cheerful, and that Belhaven 80/ a contender for beer of the trip, cool foamy and moorish (NBSS 3+). A pre-emptive strike.
I decided to get full value for that £7.60 and took a self-guided tour of two lovely side rooms with all the authenticity of the Loggerheads in Shrewsbury.
Worth every penny, really.
And when I got back the local lads were taunting the lasses for their “vile” choice of drinks.
“WHO doesn’t like Dark Fruits !” they said. Exactly !
“DON’T take a picture of the local talent !” urged Mrs RM, as they launched into a rendition of “What’s the story in Balamory” remembered from15 years ago.
As if.
retiredmartin 
Funnily enough, I had my second recent order and get served at the bar experience today. In England! Village pubs eh! So refreshing to know that when I wanted another pint I could just get off my arse and get it, immediately, not sitting fretting about whether the staff are on the ball or too busy. One day all pubs will be this way…
LikeLiked by 4 people
Mull’s in level 0, same as Shetland, but it’s still supposed to be table service. However, some places have been known to get away with bar service. No names, no pack drill.😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well this was very specifically “order at the bar” ! A few visitors seemed surprised. Not the only pub either.
LikeLike
Probably a shortage of Covid marshals on Mull. Very few police officers either.
LikeLike
I guess we were seated throughout and wore masks while moving around. There were actually plenty of staff, so ordering at the bar wasn’t to compensate for staff shortages. Collecting your own pint at the bar is, to my mind, less likely to spread transmission than staff coming to your table multiple times to take orders, deliver glasses, collect payment and bring change. But I may be wrong.
LikeLike
MacGochans at the other end of the harbour was selling Fyne Jarl when we were there. I think it’s almost compulsory to stock that now in Scotland.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, it’ll be from that same recently-gone-off-but-ok-to-sell-to-tourists batch that he’s been drinking for the last fortnight. It’s about time he came back to Sheffield to drink some Tetleys.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I saw that waiting in the bus stand. Popped my head round, looked like a bistro rather than a pub. Bet it makes GBG now !
LikeLike
Great reference point with the Loggerheads 👍 looks a cracker but I’m not sure this queuing at the bar and sit where you like malarkey will catch on 😃
LikeLiked by 3 people
I know – there’s bound to be someone standing next to you in the queue who’s recently lost his sense of smell, and with a recently developed tickly cough.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s the staff continually having to walk to your table with menus, glasses and card machines who are at most risk of catching it from customers, as we’re seeing in Manchester now.
LikeLike
No, we’re all continental now, aren’t we ?
LikeLike
80/. wasn’t that chalked on the side of a barrel to indicate the price ? Nowadays it is 80/ for a pint !!
LikeLiked by 1 person
80/ ? That’s almost a guinea !
LikeLike
80 shillings is, funnily enough, 80% of £5 ie £4
Potatoes were £1 for a half hundredweight sack when I was a lad now one baking potato can cost £1 Looks like beer is going the same way as potatoes !
LikeLike
That last photo’s a cracker! Could only have been improved if there were a less-than-perpendicular lighthouse visible through the window. Oh, and if you’d taken the time to photo-shop that mucky glass out of the foreground. And that wee lassie on the left is a bit of a distraction, too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What wee nessie ? I spent ages looking for her the next day.
LikeLike