An atmospheric wee harbour establishment

By Jonathan Trew

Details The Old Brewhouse  3-5 High Street  Arbroath  Angus  DD11 1BH      01241 879 945    Get a Map    Get Directions Suggesting to your other half that you could celebrate St Valentine's Day with a nice romantic night in the boozer won't win you too many points. There are few women who think eight pints of lager count as foreplay and, after a bellyful of beer, most men would be fit for nothing more energetic than a bout of hog-like snoring. Similarly, the invitation of a night down the docks is more likely to earn a slap around the chops than undying love. However, the Old Brewhouse in Arbroath puts the ardour into harbour. It is an atmospheric old pub situated within spitting distance of the seawall and town harbour. Granted, your girlfriend is still unlikely to mistake you for Indiana Jones. But the weather can make a trip to the Old Brewhouse seem a bit of a romantic adventure. When the wind is up, the waves can rise to 80 feet before they come over the wall and lash the front of the pub. The Old Brewhouse's address is 3-5 High Street, but the locals call it Danger Point. During the wildest storms, customers have to enter from the sidedoor rather than risk a severe soaking. Once inside, you can dry off in front of the open fire and soak up the historic ambience. In one form or another the Old Brewhouse has been standing since the 16th century. Over the years, it has been a school, a butcher's shop and even a fishmarket. Some say that it's haunted by the ghost of Auld Meg, a pipe-smoking fishwife who lived in the house. Neither Auld Meg nor her pipe made an appearance the night we were in, but there were plenty of other reminders of Arbroath's fishy history. Ropes, model lighthouses and fishing creels combine with the anchors and compasses that are stencilled onto the walls to make the place feel like an octopus' garden. Had the women behind the bar had mermaids' tails rather than feet and toes, it would not have been a complete shock. The beamed ceiling in one of the two bar areas is covered with bank notes from every corner of the earth.

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