The Ferry Tap – A Christmas delight?
A picture-postcard exterior doesn't deliver inside.
I’ve just walked six miles around the Dalmeny estate and it’s time for the pub. Happily, the circular route has ended at The Ferry Tap in South Queensferry.
It’s a pub on the high street, in a 330-year-old building, with a picture-perfect frontage1 currently adorned with Christmas decorations. The windows are slightly misted up, giving it a cosy, wintry demeanour.
Inside, the pub does not live up to its exterior promise. The low beams are covered in white plastic tinsel and red baubles. A cardboard Santa cutout, duct taped together, is loitering in one corner. The tellies are on full blast, and currently blaring out music videos for Christmas songs I’ve never heard before.
A few regulars are bantering with the barmaid, while day trippers like myself and my brother occupy some of the other tables further from the bar.
The cask selection is fairly uninspiring – a Deuchars IPA, an Old Speckled Hen and a Harlequin from Stewart Brewing. I don’t go for any of them, so I can’t judge the quality myself. But my brother’s verdict is that the Deuchars is pretty bog-standard.
I’ve never run a pub and I understand that it’s terribly difficult to do so successfully. But I don’t think it would take much for this one to be a really stand-out location, worth visiting after a stroll under the Forth Rail Bridge.
The ingredients are there. It’s a lovely old building - that’s half the job done when trying to create a cosy, welcoming pub. Old trays and mirrors, displaying the logos of long-forgotten brewers and distillers on the walls, nod to its history. The red banquette seating fits nicely with the vibe.
But a little more thought toward the beer selection would go a long way. Nerds like me will travel for good cask, especially when the train station is only 15 minutes from Waverley.
Some slightly nicer Christmas decorations and turning the TVs off would be an immediate improvement. I don’t think the regulars were there to watch “Christmas hits 2010-2019” on a free-to-air music channel.
It’s a shame. I’m currently putting together my list of Christmassy pubs for this year (you can read last year’s list here). Something tells me The Ferry Tap won’t make it.
Where is it?
Where next?
You can do a 4.5-mile walk along the coast from South Queensferry to The Cramond Inn.
Or hop back on the train at Dalmeny station and try one of the pubs in my occasional Train Beers series.
The chaser – Silver surfing
The British Guild of Beer Writers awards were last week. And I’m pleased to say that I picked up a silver award.
Thank you again to the 500+ of you who subscribe, and to the many more who come across these reviews online. My category – Best Citizen Beer Communicator – was for those of us who do this kind of thing because it’s a passion, not a job. We care about beer, we care about pubs, and we care about the communities around them.
I wrote more about this a month ago, when the shortlist was first announced.
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Minus the wheelie bins.
Congratulations on the award!