When I first arrived in Kirkwall, I saw, tucked away against a corner wall along the harbourfront, a tiny bar called The Standing Room Gin Bar. I went onto Facebook, and it seemed it was exactly as it said on the label, a peedie wee bar only opened weekends, specializing in gin (among other things). I thought it sounded intriguing, but I didn’t see a mention of dogs, and the idea of standing, all by myself, in a room than only takes 10 people, all of whom know each other, and drinking gin all alone, just wasn’t on. When (a) Scout is with me, and (b) there are tables and chairs, I can sit comfortably in a pub, bury my nose in a book and wait for someone to come up and pet the dog.
So I waited for LL to arrive to check The Standing Room out. Well, I needn’t have waited – it is delightful. We went Saturday afternoon and just fell in love with the place. A tiny, dark, wooden, quintessentially pubby inner room, and a light, pretty (not much bigger) covered patio. It was only tourists that evening, we met a very nice young man from the Czech Republic, and while the owners weren’t there, Hazel was sooooo nice, and made us feel so welcome. And, they love dogs.
And yes, I bet that as claimed, there were at least 150 different gins there. Paradise, in a seven foot by twelve foot room. My new ‘local’ going forward.