Ayrshire bar owner in dreamland as boozer named as Scotland’s Best Pub

An Ayrshire pub owner is in dreamland after his boozer was named the best in Scotland.

The Weston Tavern in Kilmaurs was voted as Scotland’s Best Pub in the Scottish Entertainment Awards.

The awards, dubbed as the oscars of the Scottish hospitality industry, recognise the best in the country.

And owner John Cairns admits he’s in tears reading the lovely messages from friends, family and customers.

He told the Kilmarnock Standard: “I was in shock when it was announced that we’d won, none of us expected it in the slightest.

“To say you’re in the top 19 is incredible enough, that blew us away, we missed out on some prizes in other categories so we felt it wasn’t going to be our night.

“But then the big one was announced and we won it, I can’t actually put it into words.

“According to the judges we’re officially the best pub in Scotland, I can understand why though.

“The things we do for the community and the values we have is what drives us forward.

“We have incredible customers and an incredible community so we’ve always wanted to give back.

“If we didn’t have our monthly litter-picks, if we didn’t fundraise for gala days, install defib machines then we wouldn’t have the platform to go and put Kilmaurs on the map.

“Who’d have ever thought a pub in a wee village in East Ayrshire would be the best in the whole of Scotland?”

He added: “It’s surreal, it’s weird, to think the struggles everyone went through during the pandemic and the aftermath with the cost of living crisis, it’s been a struggle.

“It has been a battle, sometimes you are living month-to-month, it’s the unfortunate circumstances we are in.

“But there is light at the end of the tunnel we are in.

“I’m sitting reading through our Facebook comments and they are just amazing.

“Reading them makes me cry, it’s just a release of everything we’ve went through.”

John says his staff are to thank for this award, but he says he doesn’t see them as employees.

He explained: “I always say we don’t have staff, they’re my family. We are a family.

“We see each other more than we see our own families, I appreciate everything they all do.

“It’s hard going, difficult at times so for them to get this recognition is great and it’ll give them a massive morale boost.”

John says despite a rough few years that his pub has never waivered on quality.

He said: “It’s tough times for the hospitality industry, but it’s because of the food and reputation we’ve got that people keep coming through the door.

“We haven’t compromised in the products that we buy in for our food, yes we’ve had to put our prices up because of that.

“But for us it’s better to do that than buy in cheaper cuts of meat and lose your reputation.

“Someone once told me a good saying ‘price is forgotten but quality is remembered’, and I think that’s true.”

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