For film-makers, pubs are perfect. Caf? scenes can bring to mind Neighbours, restaurants are rattly and filming in the street is to be done only when absolutely necessary on account of crowd-control issues and the weather.
When it comes to filming in public places, the pub beats all contenders. There are no streets to close, onlookers are easily excluded, it’s warm and dry and the refreshments are far superior to all that bad coffee in plastic cups. Best of all, a pub brings bags of atmosphere and depth that producers would otherwise spend large chunks of budget trying to create.
Pick the right pub and you get, in an instant, a deep patina of humanity — a sense of time, history, intimacy and rich social interaction that is eminently film-friendly, with the added benefit of giving the props department a rest from working up antique-looking fittings.
Directors have long made use of pubs, but a particular establishment’s claim to cinematic significance is often deeply suspect. Short of an interview with the location scout or a frame-by-frame study of the original, who’s to say for sure that this is not the spot where Withnail requested two large gins and two pints of cider?
Examining such claims is surely part of the pleasure for film and pub buffs, but there are plenty of genuine articles around. Want to see where the backpackers were spooked by the locals in An American Werewolf in London? Then take a trip not to the rugged and isolated North York Moors but to the Black Swan in leafy Effingham, in commuter-belt Surrey. What about where Britt Ekland pulled pints for an unimpressed Edward Woodward in The Wicker Man? Try the Ellangowan Hotel in Creetown, Dumfries & Galloway.
Advertisement
But one that has so far escaped invasion is the Ship Inn in Banff, Banfshire. It was recently identified as a key location for the Bill Forsyth film Local Hero, after being overlooked for a quarter of a century in favour of a neighbouring establishment. What an oversight — a fine local with good beers and sea views, it’s a great place in which to ponder the fact that Hollywood may be the theatre of dreams, but pubs got there first.
Ship Inn, 8 Deveronside, Banff, Banffshire (01261 812620).