This website is currently in beta. If you wish to go back to the current site please click here. To provide feedback or find out more about this site, please click here.

Pubs & Clubs
Events
Beers & Breweries
Pubs & Clubs
Events
Beers & Breweries
Join Us
Heritage Pub

Grill, Aberdeen

Improve This Listing

The pub is now part of the McGintys Group since spring 2019 after 48 years in the ownership of the Watson family lately with Graham and previously his father Eddie. No major changes took planned to the bar of this Aberdeen institute, with existing staff being retained.

In early 2020 during a spruce up of the paint-work, variable brightness roof lighting was installed, the shelves and cupboards behind the bar were illuminated, enhancing the ambience of this historic pub. Also all five handpumps are now located in the centre of the bar when they had previously been in three separate positions.

With an exquisite interior redesigned in 1926 and remaining largely unchanged since, this is the only pub listed in CAMRA's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors in the area. Check out the clear rectangles on the two main front windows. These were for Guinness advertising signs, which were hung by chains to be visible from outside via these clear pieces of glass.

The pub was for men only until 1975 and several ladies invaded the pub prior to legislation being introduced to make this illegal, but police were called and the said 'ladies' were asked to leave! The event has been turned into a film: 'NO LADIES PLEASE'. A ladies toilet was eventually provided in 1998 when the Gent's urinal was relocated to a downstairs toilet and a new seat installed in the old Gent's cubicle. The gents downstairs toilet was refurbished and reopened early October 2019 and the ladies single toilet had a makeover soon after that.

Situated across from the Music Hall, musicians often visit during concert breaks. The pub has a large selection of whiskies and has won numerous awards from lovers of the malt. Guest ales are frequently from breweries such as Fyne Ales, Windswept, Orkney, Stewarts. Bar snacks such as pies, stovies etc. are now again available. CAMRA Branch Pub of the Year 2016.

Information for this venue is provided by the Aberdeen Grampian & N Isles Branch of CAMRA
Previous Names
Local Authority
Aberdeen City
Last updated
05/03/2024
Last surveyed
14/02/2024
Pub ID
ABE/000005
Asset of Community Value

Three star - A pub interior of outstanding national historic importance

Listed status: B

A beautifully appointed pub lies behind an austere exterior in an early 1830s grey granite terrace. It was a restaurant from the 1870s but was turned into a pub in the early 20th century. Having been acquired by a Mr John Innes in 1925, it was refitted the following year under architects Jenkins & Marr. This mainly stand-up bar retains its very fine fittings from that time including a wonderful long mahogany gantry with three glazed cabinets, made, like all the woodwork, by a Mr G. Fordyce of Archibalds. The counter carries the letter ‘G’ along its various sections and has a continuous brass match-striker from the good(!) old days of smoke-filled pubs. The walls are covered in mahogany veneer and the tables, with cast-iron bases, are inscribed with the name of the pub. The plasterwork ceilings are striking with a huge oval at the front and a circular feature at the rear, the craftsmen responsible being named as Messrs R.Watt and G. McGilvery. This was a gents-only bar until the Sex Discrimination Act came into force on 1 January 1976 and ladies’ did not get their toilet until as late as 1998 when the gents’ underwent a sex-change.

General information about historic pub interiors

Occupying the ground floor of a typical grey granite three-storey terrace property of the early 1830s, this was a restaurant and dining rooms from the 1870s. It retained the name of The Grill when remodelled by architects Jenkins & Marr, and turned into a pub in 1926. The mainly stand-up bar retains its fittings of that date, including a fine mahogany gantry with three glazed cabinets. The pub has two ceiling sections with moulded plasterwork - the front, oval in shape; the rear, circular. The long bar counter has a number of badged sections on the front each with a letter 'G' and a brass match-striker all along it. The walls are covered in mahogany veneer and the tables with cast-iron bases are inscribed 'The Grill'.

As this was a strictly men-only bar until the Sex Discrimination Act came into force on 1 January 1976, there was no ladies' toilet until 1998 when new gents' facilities were added downstairs and the former gents' WC revamped into the ladies'. (The nearby Bridge Bar, another 'men-only' bar, still has no ladies' toilet and there is a sign on the door to warn customers of this fact!). The Grill carries over 300 single malt Scottish whiskies on sale - ask for the informative menu.

General information about historic pub interiors
Seen some incorrect or missing details? let us know.
Opening
Monday
10:00am - Midnight
Tuesday
10:00am - Midnight
Wednesday
10:00am - Midnight
Thursday
10:00am - Midnight
Friday
10:00am - 1:00am
Saturday
10:00am - 1:00am
Sunday
12:30pm - Midnight
Spotted an error with the opening times? Let us know

Current beers

This Pub serves 4 changing beers and 0 regular beers.

Grill, Aberdeen

Add it to our list and share what's currently being served!.
Are you a CAMRA member? Contribute by submitting a beer score
Spot a Beer
Submit beer score
Changing

Changing beers typically include: Cromarty (varies) , Orkney (varies) , Stewart (varies)

Source: Regional

Do you know what Regular beers or changing beers this Pub serves? Let us know
Your scores
Join CAMRA to access beer scoring and view scores for other pubs.
Become a member.
Retrieving scores
You have no beer scores submitted.

Facilities
Sports TV Sports TV
Sound usually muted
Wi Fi Wi Fi
Features
Real Ale Real Ale
Real Heritage Pub Real Heritage Pub
Transport
Close to bus routes
Many routes on Union Street
Nearby Station (400m)
Aberdeen
Are these pub facilities or features correct? Let us know

Nearby

View All
(Pub, Key). Published on 02-12-2012
Stag
Real Ale Available
Pub
0.0 miles - 6 Crown Street, Aberdeen, AB11 6HB
(Key). Published on 04-09-2013
Halo Bar
Pub
0.1 miles - 7 Crown Street, Aberdeen, AB11 6HA
OGV Taproom
Pub
0.1 miles - 10 Bridge Place, Aberdeen, AB11 6HZ
(Pub, External, Key). Published on 11-11-2019
Molly Malones
Pub
0.1 miles - 224 Union Street, Aberdeen, AB10 1TL
Heritage Pub
(Key). Published on 26-04-2016
Bridge Bar
Pub
0.1 miles - 6 Bridge Street, Aberdeen, AB11 6JJ
After re-furbishment Nov 2021. (Pub, Key). Published on 19-11-2021
Under The Hammer
Real Ale Available
Pub
0.1 miles - 11 North Silver Street, Aberdeen, AB10 1RJ
(Pub, External, Key). Published on 21-04-2022
Globe Inn
Real Ale Available
Pub
0.1 miles - 13 - 15 North Silver Street, Aberdeen, AB10 1RJ
(Pub). Published on 27-11-2012
Howff
Real Ale Available
Pub
0.1 miles - 365 Union Street, Aberdeen, AB11 6BT
(External, Key). Published on 26-10-2020
Motif
Pub
0.2 miles - 363 Union Street/50 Lamgstane Place, Aberdeen, AB11 6EN
Tippling House
Pub
0.2 miles - 4 Belmont Street, Aberdeen, AB10 1JE

Grab a copy of the Heritage Pub Guide for Scotland

Introduction This guide describes the 116 pubs identified by CAMRA as having interiors of national or regional historic or architectural importance, plus a further 24 whose interiors are of some regional interest. Scotland has over 4000 pubs so why do...

Historic pub interiors
Home
© Campaign for Real Ale 2023 - 2024