The Inn at Lathones
This Fife hotel has a good restaurant and location, close to the home of golf at St Andrews, and a reputation as a great music venue for artists including KC Tunstall, Mick Taylor, and Terry Reid.
The Inn at Lathones is just a few minutes’ drive from the world’s golfing capital, St Andrews in Scotland, and dates back to the 16th century. The oldest part is the Stables, now the bar and also a music venue where internationally-renowned artists play to an exclusive audience of less than 50 people. This intimacy has brought names like Dean Friedman, Curved Air, Iain Matthews, and Nine Below Zero to perform there.
The Grey Lady Ghost
The bar is also where guests might see the Grey Lady, a benevolent ghost, who also has her horse with her – well, why shouldn’t a horse have a ghost too?
Lodging at the Inn at Lathones
This historic 16th-century inn has a range of very 21st-century bedrooms, from budget standard rooms through to luxurious suites. Suites at the rear of the hotel have balconies which overlook sheep-filled pastures to distant woodland. Room 23 is the Desert Rose Band room with two balconies, a Jacuzzi bath, TVs in both the living room and the bedroom, a guitar signed by John Jorgenson of the Desert Rose Band, and lots of rock posters on the walls, but still with clean modern looks thanks to the stripped wood flooring and the 4-poster bed made from a light-coloured wood.
Good Restaurant near St Andrews
There are two eating options at the Inn at Lathones – the bar menu or the restaurant. The bar menu offers inexpensive but superior pub grub with dishes like grilled breast of chicken with a warm potato salad and wholegrain mustard sauce.
The restaurant is bright, relaxed and modern, in contrast to some of the more historic parts of the Inn. There are simple but good-sized wooden tables, and on the wall are guitars signed by Keith Richards and Jimmy Page. The cooking is more elaborate than the bar meals, with starters such as seared west coast scallops with a warm fennel salad and an orange and cardamom reduction, or mains like roasted halibut with a 3-tomato salsa. Desserts might include the unusual hibiscus pannacotta or more familiar (but mouth-watering) sticky toffee pudding.
Music at the Inn at Lathones
In recent years the Inn at Lathones has become a distinguished small music venue. Despite a concert room which holds only 50 guests (or perhaps because of it), there have been music concerts by artists including KC Tunstall, Andy Fairweather Low, Graham Gouldman, John Otway, Terry Reid, and former Rolling Stone Mick Taylor. Hundreds of other musicians have played there, so it’s worth checking the Inn at Lathones website for upcoming events and ticket availability if travel dates are flexible.
Location of Inn near St Andrews Golf
The Inn at Lathones is about six miles southwest of the golf courses of St Andrews, a straight drive of under ten minutes on the A915. The Inn is easy to find, just off the road, with rooms set well back from the road. There is ample free parking behind the Inn.