Old Thistle Inn, Westruther

Built 1721 originally as two cottages and a coach house at one time, this is a country pub with three small rooms that last changed in the late 1940s. When the nearby Spottiswood House was demolished during World War II a number of fittings were imported to the pub.

On the right is a very small public bar with an old bar counter to which new panels were added to the front in the late 1940s, and the gantry was formerly a hat stand, presumably added at the same time. The semi-circular brick fireplace also dates from the 1940s with wooden seats either side but the carved mantelpiece including a central mirror and carved eagle may be over 250 years old having come from the aforementioned Spottiswood House. The fixed seating dates to the 1940s and there is a display case on the counter. Look for the bell push on the left of the servery unusually hidden by a flap with the wording ‘Ring’.

In the entrance passage there is the old off-sales hatch at the bottom of the stairs. To the left is a small lounge which would have been in use as such for many years as there is old ‘Lounge’ lettering on the door from the far left entrance. The rooms retain their numbers – a figure ‘1’ over the public bar door; ‘2’ on the lounge door, and ‘3’ on the small room behind the servery, which now houses a pool table. From the late 1940s to 1986 this room housed a small cocktail bar. There is another small room on the far left brought into pub use in recent years which has a 1930s brick fireplace.