Café Royal

You might be better visiting this lovely pub after the lunchtime crush when you can appreciate the dazzling, opulent Victorian interior better – and find a free table. It was built with no expense spared - with state-of-the art plumbing and gas fittings that were probably the pride and joy of its owner, Robert Hume, who was a local plumber. The floors and stairway are laid with marble, chandeliers hang from the magnificent plasterwork ceilings, and the substantial island bar is graced by a carefully re-created gantry. The high-ceilinged Viennese café-style rooms have a particularly impressive series of highly detailed Doulton tilework portraits of historical innovators Watt, Faraday, Stephenson, Caxton, Benjamin Franklin and Robert Peel (forget police - his importance here is as the introducer of calico printing), and the stained glass in the restaurant is well worth a look. Caledonian Deuchars IPA and guests such as Cairngorm Black Gold and Kelburn Dark Moor and Misty Law on handpump, a decent choice of wines by the glass, and 20 malt whiskies. Piped music, and TV (when the rugby is on).