Look you are either going to absolutely love this place, or completely hate it. There is no middle ground. Go there at 10pm one night, buy a beer and stand by the bar for 15 minutes. You'll see.
Downstairs: Never been in, seems a bit 'Local' In the sense of 'Royston Vasey' rather than ' Rovers Return' though.
But upstairs: A total gem. A 100% Music dive of the best sort. Bar is tiny, but still hosts some of the best LIVE music to be had in Inverness and beyond. True sometimes its comedically awful. But sometimes its totally amazing. You never know what you're gonna get, and that's part of the fun, More hits than misses in my experience.
Place can be quiet (but is never empty), or it can be completely packed out. It has a totally amazing friendly buzz either way.
One day you'll get a 6 piece Death Metal band, next it could be some grey haired R&B growler, or a Cornish folk duo. At the weekends, don't be surprised to see 18 year old Goths drinking snakebite next to bearded kilties with Guiness who - but for the smoking ban - would doubtless be chuffing away on pipes.
Mucially its mainly quieter Folky type stuff during week nights, and touring wannabes and up and coming bands playing the weekends. The size of the place means that the acts are mixed in with everyone else.
Friendly, scruffy, and very chilled out, this is the bar where the Proclaimers hung out before they made it big.
I almost always pass through when I'm out on the town planning to head to Hootenanny or wherever, and quite often, end up staying put. read more