Scotland's 'most remote pub' to close for good

The Puff Inn on St Kilda will close next week after more than 50 years serving as the social hub of the island. PIC: Historic Environment Scotland.

Now, time is being called for the last time at The Puff Inn on St Kilda, the most remote pub in the country which sits 40 miles - and at least two-and-a-half hours in a boat - from its nearest neighbour in the Outer Hebrides.

The pub is due to close next week and will then be demolished after more than 50 years in business as the MOD, which has a missile tracking system on the island, rebuilds its base.

The Puff Inn is primarily used by the MOD personnel based on St Kilda, but visiting construction workers and conservationists are also allowed in the bar.

Those who have made it to the pub - it closed to tourists and day trippers in 2005 amid security concerns - recall the pub's lively atmosphere with a pool table, pub quizzes and discos keeping those entertained in this isolated spot.

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Julie Hunt, chairwoman of the St Kilda Club, said the closure of The Puff Inn represented "sad times" for the island.

Ms Hunt, who visited the pub during her working holidays with NTS, said: "It really is the end of an era for St Kilda.

Signatures of customers are left on the ceiling at this most remote pub. PIC: Historic Environment Scotland.

"There is nothing like spending the day digging a hole, or clearing some drainage, and then you can go to the pub and chat and relax with a drink.

"It was always a nice place to spend the end of the day."

"Dancing on a carpet in your walking boots didn't go that well. But that is the kind of thing that happens on St Kilda."

The pub mainly served the MOD personnel on the island but visiting contractors and conservationists were allowed to be served too. Tourists were banned in 2005 amid security concerns. PIC: Historic Environment Scotland.

The pub is due to close on Monday with an alternative space to be built by the MOD in the autumn.

Ms Hunt added: "I don't know what the MOD will put in its place but The Puff Inn as it was won't exist. It really was the social hub of the island.

"If someone else is put there, it won't have the character of The Puff Inn, which was built up over 50 years."

It is hoped to save some of the memorabilia from the pub, including the giant puffin mural over the bar.

Live music could often be heard in the bar, with pub quizzes and discos also held. PIC: St Kilda Club.

Poet Donald S Murray visited St Kilda a number of years back, with the trip inspiring his book The Guga Stone: Lies, Legends and Lunacies from St Kilda.

He said: "I spent over a week there a few years ago. All I can recall of the pub is that there were a bewildering series of notices written on the walls and ceiling.

"They included a bizarre one in which people noted their times in clambering up the slope rising upwards from Village Bay while a) being naked and b) wearing an ironing board on their backs at the same time."

Writer and yachtsman Marc Calhoun earlier recalled his experiences of The Puff Inn.

On his blog, he wrote: "My first visit to St Kilda's Puff Inn was in the spring of 1999. We arrived late in the evening, went ashore in the twilight, and made our way to the pub.

"The joint was jumpin' - loud music playing, air thick with cigarette smoke, and most of the tables occupied by a mix of sailors, base workers, NTS folks, yotties, naturalists, seasoned skippers, and first-timers like me.

The Puff Inn will be demolished as the MOD redesigns its base here - but a new alternative will be built by the autumn. PIC: Historic Environment Scotland.

"After paying the one-pound membership fee (which, I believe, went to the RNLI), I had a few beers before going out back to pitch my tent in the camping enclosure.

"The pub was known for its cheap drinks. They were not allowed to make a profit, and so the booze was sold at cost - you could get a double Scotch for 50p."

From 2005, only drinkers with prior approval from the Ministry of Defence were allowed in the pub after a rise in visitors from cruise ships and day boats caused concerns about security in the bar.

The decision was taken not long after contractors QinetiQ took over the running of the defence range on behalf of the MOD.

Today, a spokeswoman for the MOD said: “The Puff Inn is relocating as part of a new accommodation block that will open this autumn. The original 1950’s facility that was built by the RAF continues to evolve."

St Kilda was evacuated of its permanent population in 1930 as conditions got too tough to survive. It is owned by National Trust for Scotland and receives around 5,000 visitors a year.

Historic Environment Scotland is producing a 3D digital model of the island and its archaeology to allow visitors to voyage to St Kilda from the comfort of their own homes,