A sad last orders at bar
Doors are now locked and future unknown
Regulars helped drink the place dry on Sunday as an old drovers inn closed shop after 199 years.
The Stair Inn has been a feature of country life since 1820.
But it has failed to find a buyer after more than three years on the market.
Mine hosts Dave and Catherine Birrell pulled the door shut after 15 years running the old inn.
And Dave, 61, lamented: “It is very sad and clear nobody wants to buy country inns any more.”
They’d dropped the price to under £ 420,000 for the highly rated and profitable inn, which has six en- suite letting rooms.
Back in the day it was just a farmers’ howff with straw on the floor at a strategic livestock crossing point on the River Ayr.
And in the eighties was the stuff of rural legend.
Locals used to feed an alcoholic cockerel sips of whisky and it used to perch one- legged on a bronze coal bin next to the open fire.
A Jack Russell had a party trick of leaping onto the tables and sending pints flying.
And the ceiling in the gents often froze, with drips splashing onto the heads of the chaps.
Dave and Catherine, also 61, took over after running the Cuilfail Hotel near Oban and threw everything at it.
They were immediately captivated by the stunning position at Stair.
Dave said: “The sad thing is that it is a very profitable business.
“I think a few things have combined such as banks not as keen to lend, the tougher drink drive laws and people not prepared to devote all their time to it.”
They don’t know what the future of the building is and fortunately a couple of staff have now got new jobs.
But if an offer comes in from a benefactor who wants to keep the country heritage alive, they will snap it up.
The Stair Inn dates to 1820 and now boasts six en- suite bedrooms.
It was Scottish Inn of the Year in 2007. Catherine said: “It is a sad sign of the times. I don’t know what we are going to do with it, we had not looked past shutting the door on Sunday.
“We just had to make a decision and I am sorry for the regulars and our friends.”
Dave added: “I also think the younger generations don’t want to take on pubs. It is the pefect storm of everything going against you.
“It really had to be someone with money in their pocket who was desperate to have a country inn in Ayrshire.”