Lochlands Bar, Arbroath

The lounge is the star attraction here as it is little changed since its creation in 1963.

Built in 1899 of red sandstone with two storeys and attic. The corner entrance lobby has colourful Victorian floor tiles. In 1963 the adjoining house was acquired and a new lounge created and the public bar refitted and there are many 1960s fittings remaining.

The dimly lit public bar has a bar counter from 1963 to which more modern panels and frames containing football colours have been added to the front. The counter was moved back by a foot or so in the late 1960s – it originally reached the post holding up the ceiling. The walls are covered by 1960s wallpaper that looks like fielded panelling and the fixed seating is of a similar date. The gantry is more of the ‘wallpaper’ with optics attached. Along the bottom of the top half of the gantry is a row of the ribbed glass that can be seen on the lounge bar counter. In 1963 there was a snug situated on the right end of the servery, which was accessed via the middle door on the Lochlands Street side, and has been combined with the public bar.

The lounge has its own entrance and a shallow vestibule. It contains a very 1960s canted bar counter of plywood with a row of ribbed glass along the top of most of it. The wooden top is of sapele and when opened the new room was called the ‘Sapele Lounge’. The top part of the gantry dates from c.1990, one third of the 1963 lower section remains (rest lost to fridges). The fixed seating is in seating bays re-leatheretted and there is a ply panelled dado. Ceilidh every Thu 8pm in the lounge.