Bar boss Les Ross is celebrating after clinching her first award for the Douglas Arms.
Members of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) voted her pub the best in Dumfries for real ales and the association have officially recognised her efforts.
The association will present Ms Ross with a certificate in the next few weeks and she said: “We are a wee pub and it was a nice surprise to get this award to be voted the best pub in the town for real ales.
“It is the first thing we have won and I am delighted.
“CAMRA members are very enthusiastic about their real ale and obviously we brewed two of our own beers. One is called ‘Attacked by Seagulls’ and the other is ‘Hazy Bones’ which is a hazy, New English IPA beer. The name was a play on words from lazy bones as the beer is quite hazy and the other is a nod to life in Dumfries.
“We also had the labels designed by local people. Dumfries artist Paul Winter did the artwork for ‘Attacked by Seagulls’ and tattoo artist Michael McGeechin did the work for our ‘Hazy Bones’ bottles.”
She added: “The pub was opened in August 2019 and then there was Covid in 2020 and so we closed, opened a little bit and re-opened again.
“So to win this first award is brilliant.
“We are continuing to develop the pub after replacing the toilets, put in new flooring and a new bar so now we have music nights and working with a lot of local disc jockeys to play soul, funk and disco.
“The music decks are a permanent set up at the real fire and we have all vinyl nights as well with a programme of different DJs.
“So that is on Fridays and Saturdays.
“And we still say to people to come and have a real ale beside a real fire.”
