The barmaid in the Magpie & Stump obviously wasn’t happy with our selection of drinks – we chose the rum over the tequila and the prices didn’t seem to top us over the threshold of ‘well paying customers’. The slight ‘dishwasher-like’ taste came as a freebie, and lingered around well after the last swallow.
It was a strange place, Mexican style with hundreds of monkey nut shells covering the floor. Our group weren’t sure if this was by design or by lazy cleaning. Either way, the place didn’t have the vibe we were looking for.
After tipping the waitress well, she warmed up a little and told us about a place down the street called High Rollers. From her description, it sounded a bit more our kind of scene.
Hanging a right down the road, we headed down a small staircase where the room opened out into a space big enough for a couple of bowling lanes, a DJ booth, sports on the TV and an eating / drinking area. It was here that our group found the atmosphere we had been hunting down – something between nightspot hangout and first date location.
Sharing a few drinks (including a fishbowl not quite big enough to fit a goldfish in comfortably), we alternated between reviewing our trip, watching the other diners and providing unintentional entertainment for the couple sitting opposite us as they laughed at the competition we had going on between two of our group to finish the fishbowl in record time (there was some cheating going on and the green goo didn’t always seem to disappear as quickly as it should!). The relaxed vibe and friendly bar staff seemed to rub off on the other people in the room and everyone was laughing, smiling and shooting the breeze with the people on their tables – this was the Canadian night out I’d been looking to find.
High Rollers can be found at: http://www.highrollersbanff.com/
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