In a press release published yesterday, the owner of The Scottish Arms (6 S. Sarah) announced that the famed Scottish pub in the Central West End would be closing following service on Sunday evening, July 28.
The announcement began, in part, “After many wonderful years serving the St. Louis community, we will be closing our doors…marking the end of Ally Nisbet’s era owning and operating The Scottish Arms.” Nisbet thanked The Scottish Arms’ patrons, its team, including “a special thank-you to Chef Kristin Smart and Chef Rico Holts, who have worked incredibly hard ensuring our guests got the highest standard of culinary delights.” And Nisbet expressed the “deepest gratitude to Michael Cline, our General Manager, who has been with us since we first opened our doors in 2005. The Scottish Arms would not be what it is today without Mike’s unwavering commitment and personal sacrifices.”
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No reason was given for the closure, and it was not until the end of the announcement that Nisbet offered a glimmer of hope for the future. “We were in the process of an ownership change,” it read, “but it unfortunately fell through at the last minute. We are still working to secure new ownership and/or investors to keep the Arms going.” (Interested parties should email: [email protected] for more information.)
On Saturday night, Nisbet, who now lives in Colorado but is in St. Louis for the farewell, told SLM, “We worked very hard over the last several months to transfer ownership, and it just fell apart. Time was running out, and I had to make a final decision which was, reluctantly, to close.”
Cline tells SLM that he had been working diligently to put a deal together for the past six months, and “in the big scheme of things, we weren’t talking about that much money.” He adds that The Scottish Arms’ liquor license is expiring in August, and remaining open would have required Nisbet to remain involved. “That became the stumbling block,” he says.
Nisbet’s online missive ended with a popular Scottish farewell expressing hope for the future: “Happy to meet, sorry to part, happy to meet again. Lang may yer lum reek“—”long may your chimney smoke.” Nisbet hoped to see patrons “one last time to celebrate the history and community we’ve built together. Thank you for being a part of our family. Slàinte mhath!”
Update: Sunday night would be “bar service only,” according to a later post from Nisbet which read, in part, “Ordering local pizza and small plates. It will be a help yerself kind of evening. We are keeping Sunday low key so our team can relax and enjoy catching up with you all. Last night was just bananas. I was told to bring my guitar so maybe a wee sing song is in the cards. Thank you all so much.”
The Background
When Nisbet moved to St. Louis more than 25 years ago, he was “almost immediately homesick for Scotland,” he told SLM in 2017. He went searching for an authentic Scottish bar, but alas, couldn’t find one here, which planted the seeds for The Scottish Arms. He opened the pub in an old Victorian-style building in the Central West End in 2003. “We show people in St. Louis what a Scottish bar is,” says Nisbet. “Scottish culture, food, and single-malt whiskey.” More than anything, he added at the time, it’s also about Highland hospitality—making patrons feel at home. (A few years later, Nisbet opened The Shaved Duck in Tower Grove East, which now remains open under new ownership.)
The Scottish Arms has been home to frequent Scotch tastings, countless Scottish musicians, and yearly Burn’s Night suppers, honoring the birthday of Scottish poet Robert Burns.
The romantic, two-room pub with candlelit tables and a partly shaded hidden back patio became the go-to spot in St. Louis for Scottish and traditional UK fare, including cock-a-leekie pie, bangers and mash, cranachan, as well as haggis (and the more benign haggis fritters), fare that one local critic said “sings like a chorus of bagpipes.”
Over the years, most of those dishes were dropped from the menu, Staying on were popular items including shepherd’s pie, fish and chips, “wee Wellington bites,” and peat smoked and Scotch glazed chicken. Scotch eggs, a perennial favorite since day one, were featured in March by SLM on KMOV’s Great Day. Other Americanized menu faves included duck poutine, French onion soup, crab cakes, and fish tacos.
Reached today, Scott Sturdevant with Rothschild St. Louis, the owner of the building, tells SLM that “Ally has been a wonderful steward of 6 S. Sarah the past twenty years and the search starts tomorrow for the next one. It could be someone operating The Arms honoring Ally’s legacy or a person with a new idea or a group that wants to operate a traditional pub under a different name. The building is too beautiful to sit long.”
Added that terms could be at “The Arms’ lease rate, a new lease rate, a creatively structured lease rate…we’re open to anything and everything.”
