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The dining room at the Creel in Dunbar, tables laid with white cloths under old beams.
Lothian

The Creel, Dunbar

A small restaurant by Dunbar harbour cooking local seafood and East Lothian produce, much recommended by the town's own people.

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Welcome

In a stone building on Lamer Street, a few steps from Dunbar's harbour and castle, the Creel is the restaurant that local people send visitors to.

It is small and simple inside, with white cloths on the tables and old beams overhead, and the cooking is built round the best of what comes from the sea and the farms of East Lothian.

Diners write of scallops and venison, a starter of lobster and crab, fish with mussels and peas, good sourdough to begin, and wines suggested to go with each course. It is a warm and welcoming place, happy to make a birthday cake in its own kitchen for a family celebration.

It serves lunch and dinner from Tuesday, and it is often full, especially at the end of the week, so it is best to book. After a walk round the harbour, the Battery and the castle ruins, it is just the place to stop.

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Arrives at 5am every day.

A free morning email to see what’s on this week, catch up on what’s happening in Scotland and find somewhere new to go.

The Daily for 30 October, from Scotland with love. Aerial view of a teal-coloured lochan cupped in a forested hollow, a scree slope rising on one side and autumn-tinged pines ringing the shore.
Round the cornerDunbar Castle1 min by roadSee itDunbar Castle
Before you go

Lunch and dinner from Tuesday, in Google's current record; closed on Monday.

Book ahead, especially at weekends.

Where
25 Lamer Street, Dunbar, EH42 1HJ.
Closed
Monday.
Book
Advised.

Opening hours

Their website
Monday
Closed
Tuesday
noon–2pm, 5.30pm–9pm
Wednesday
noon–2pm, 5.30pm–9pm
Thursday
noon–2pm, 5.30pm–9pm
Friday
noon–2pm, 5.30pm–9pm
Saturday
noon–2pm, 5.30pm–9pm
Sunday
Closed

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

On Lamer Street by the harbour in Dunbar, EH42 1HJ.

Close byDunbar harbour.
  1. Fishing boats moor beneath Dunbar Castle's red sandstone ruins on the harbourThe Creel LoadersThe fishing statue nearby.Under a mile 1 min by road
  2. Dunbar BatteryDunbar BatteryThe old gun battery on Lamer Island.Under a mile 1 min by road
  3. John Muir's Birthplace on Dunbar High Street, a white-harled house with flowers by the open door.John Muir's BirthplaceThe house on Dunbar's High Street where John Muir, the Scot who helped create America's national parks, was born in 1838, now a free museum.Under a mile 1 min by road
  4. Dunbar High Street under a blue sky, the white Town House with its tower and spire among the old buildings.Dunbar Town House Museum & GalleryDunbar's 16th-century tolbooth on the High Street, with its witch's hat tower, now a free museum and gallery of the town's history.Under a mile 1 min by road
  5. Railed path leads from grassy clifftop down to a rocky shorelineDunbar High StreetIt’s worth having a look along the High Street in Dunbar to grab a souvenir in one of the many wee gift shops.Under a mile 1 min by road
Directions
The ruins of a red sandstone tower and harbour walls stand on a rocky promontory, small boats sheltering in the water beside them.AttractionsDunbar CastleA step away
White clubhouse with red tiled roof beside a links golf courseAttractionsDunbar Golf Course1.0 miles
Metal footbridge crosses a tidal creek on a wide sandy beachAttractionsBelhaven Bridge1.3 miles
Waves breaking on a sandy beach under a blue sky with scattered cloudsWalksDunbar Clifftop Path to Belhaven Bay1.4 miles
Grassy dunes overlook a curving sandy beach with Bass Rock offshoreAttractionsTyninghame Links3.3 miles as the crow flies
Purple shelves of new books at Night Owl Books in East Linton, with a vase of flowers on the table of books in front.ShoppingNight Owl Books7.1 miles
Stone dovecot with conical tiled roof and outside stair, set in grassAttractionsPreston Mill8.0 miles
Ruined stone castle with wooden staircase leading to an arched doorwayAttractionsHailes Castle8.5 miles
Grassy headland overlooking a rocky shoreline and calm coastal watersAttractionsBerwickshire Coastal Path8.7 miles

Recommend to a friend

Stay nearby

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

A landscape view of the Blue Cabin at the foot of the brae, lamps lit by its red door and boats drawn up on the grass.Blue Cabin by the Sea
  • Sleeps 4
  • In Cockburnspath
  • 8 miles from the Creel
Check datesA stone cottage with red pantiled roofs and a gabled dormer sits behind a gravel courtyard, an apple tree in the foreground.Maybell Cottage
  • Sleeps 2
  • In Pittenweem
  • 17 miles from the Creel
Check datesAn orange leather sofa draped with a sheepskin faces a stone fireplace beneath a timber ceiling, a staircase rising behind.The Old Stable
  • Sleeps 2
  • In Pittenweem
  • 17 miles from the Creel
Free 31 Oct – 2 NovThe Crow’s Nest, FifeThe Crow’s Nest
  • Sleeps 4
  • In Pittenweem
  • 17 miles from the Creel
Free 2–5 NovPlaces to stayEvery stay in LothianAll our places to stay nearby, to search by date and by who is coming.See them all
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