Welcome to the Hole I’ The Wa’! We are one of the oldest public houses in Dumfries (est.1620) and offer a friendly welcome to locals and visitors alike. We are situated right in the centre of Dumfries. Our front door is situated in the old ‘Mid Row’, a medieval lane which ran parallel to the High Street. This is now accessed via a close from the High Street.
It is quite a thought to think that we had been pulling pints for almost 170 years by the time that Robert Burns came to live in Dumfries. Burns is widely believed to have had the Hole I’ The Wa’ on his list of favoured inns. Towards the end of the 19th century the landlord was a Mr. John Thomson an avid collector of Burns memorabilia. In 1904 he paid £55 at Sotheby’s’ for Burns’s Dumfries burgess ticket – quite a sum in those days. Today it can be seen with some of Thomson’s other purchases in the collection at the nearby Robert Burns Centre.
