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Argyll and Bute

Kettledrum Café

A family-run café and bistro on East Princes Street in Rothesay, for fish and chips, pies and early dinners.

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Welcome

The Kettledrum is a family-run café and bistro on the corner of East Princes Street in Rothesay, a red-painted shopfront with CAFE lettered over the door, a short walk from the pier where the Wemyss Bay ferry comes in.

It serves lunches and early dinners six days a week, and the food is home-made: traditional fish and chips, burgers, steak melts, steak pie and chicken pie, with hot meals, generous portions, dishes for children and weekly specials posted on its Facebook page.

It is an easy, friendly place for a family meal after a day on Bute, with a few tables outside on summer days. It opens from noon to 8pm on Monday and from Wednesday to Saturday, and from noon to 6pm on Sunday, and is closed on Tuesday. The last sit-down orders are taken at 6.45pm, or 4.45pm on Sunday. Rothesay Castle and the shops of the town centre are a few minutes' walk away.

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The Daily for 1 November, from Scotland with love. A misty lane runs past slate-roofed cottages toward a wooded hillside.
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Before you go

Open Monday and Wednesday to Saturday, noon to 8pm (last sit-in 6.45pm); Sunday noon to 6pm (last sit-in 4.45pm); closed Tuesday.

Phone 01700 502342.

Getting there
CalMac ferry from Wemyss Bay to Rothesay, 35 minutes; trains run from Glasgow Central to Wemyss Bay.
Hours
Noon to 8pm; Sun to 6pm; closed Tue.

Opening hours

Their website
Monday
noon–8pm
Tuesday
Closed
Wednesday
noon–8pm
Thursday
noon–8pm
Friday
noon–8pm
Saturday
noon–8pm
Sunday
noon–6pm

Eaten here? Tell others what to order and when to go, and the best go on this page with your name.

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Where it is

32 East Princes Street, Rothesay, Isle of Bute, PA20 9DN.

Close byIn Rothesay.
  1. The front of Ambience on Victoria Street, Rothesay, under its blue awning.Ambience CaféA café and restaurant on Victoria Street in Rothesay, known for its fresh breads, cinnamon buns and focaccia.Under a mile 1 min by road
  2. The white shopfront of Musicker on Rothesay's High Street, its name on a green sign above the windows.MusickerA vegetarian café on Rothesay's High Street, opened in 2002 for good coffee and good music.Under a mile 1 min by road
  3. Display cases of birds and finds in Bute Museum's hall.Bute MuseumThe island's own museum on Stuart Street in Rothesay, by the castle, with the archaeology, history and wildlife of Bute.Under a mile 1 min by road
  4. The castle walls reflected in the moat.Rothesay CastleThe round, moated castle of the Stewarts in the middle of Rothesay, with Scotland's only circular curtain wall.Under a mile 1 min by road
  5. Rothesay's seafront terraces rising above the bay.Rothesay TownBute's Victorian resort town on a wide bay, with a moated castle, a royal charter of 1401 and celebrated toilets on the pier.Under a mile 1 min by road
  6. The roofless gable of St Mary's Chapel among the graves.St Mary’s ChapelThe roofless chancel of Rothesay's medieval church, with the canopied tombs of a Stewart knight and an unknown lady.Under a mile 2 min by road
Directions
Rothesay Castle's round walls behind its moat.AttractionsIsle of Bute2.4 miles
The ruin of Toward Castle from the air: its ivy-covered tower and the roofless walls of the courtyard among spring woods, the Firth of Clyde blue beyond.AttractionsToward Castle2.6 miles
The view from the Ardyne hillside over young birch and spruce to the Firth of Clyde, the Isle of Bute across the water and the peaks of Arran on the skyline under a big sky of white cloud.WalksArdyne Trail3.0 miles
Mount Stuart's red sandstone front across the lawns.AttractionsMount Stuart4.1 miles
The wide sands of Ettrick Bay at low tide.AttractionsEttrick Bay5.0 miles
The low brick café at Ettrick Bay on a sunny day, with blue pillars and doors, benches and parasols along the front.CafeEttrick Bay Café5.0 miles
Scalpsie Bay's sand and the green fields behind, from above.AttractionsScalpsie Bay6.0 miles
A bus on the shore road round the wide sandy bay, the village beyond.AttractionsKilchattan Bay8.2 miles
Bishop's Glen Reservoir above Dunoon on a bright summer day, still blue water below a bank of conifers and birch, a grassy bank along the near shore.WalksBishop's Glen8.5 miles

Recommend to a friend

Stay nearby

Places to stay near the café, and when each is next free.

Glenstriven House, a white Victorian house with grey stone corners, at the top of a gravel drive between lawns, with a wooded hill behind.Glenstriven House
  • Sleeps 15
  • In Argyll and Bute
  • 8 miles from the Kettledrum
Free 2–4 NovThe Hollies, Argyll and ButeThe Hollies
  • Sleeps 18
  • In Tighnabruaich
  • 9 miles from the Kettledrum
Check datesPlaces to stayEvery stay in Argyll and ButeAll our places to stay nearby, to search by date and by who is coming.See them all
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