Ma Cameron's, Aberdeen

The claim

Reputed to be Aberdeen's oldest pub, Ma Cameron's sits on Little Belmont Street in the city centre. Its snug front bar is said to survive from the eighteenth-century inn, dated to 1746, while the rest spreads through nooks, sports screens and a rooftop beer garden. The name honours Amelia 'Ma' Cameron, who ran the pub in the 1930s.

What the records show

Scotland's Pubs and Bars gives 1746 and the operator says the front snug is eighteenth-century; no licence or deed has been traced. CAMRA's heritage data records the building as not listed, and the national designations have now been searched here too, which makes that an answer of our own rather than somebody else's: within forty metres of 6-8 Little Belmont Street Historic Environment Scotland holds three listed buildings — the category A former Old Town's School across the street, 2 Little Belmont Street with 11A Back Wynd, and the former West St Nicholas parish rooms at 15 Back Wynd — and no entry for the pub. So no register dates these walls, and the eighteenth-century snug rests on the operator's word. The interior carries one star on CAMRA's national inventory for two classic panelled rooms: the snug with bare bench seating, a hatch for service and two perforated bentwood seats, divided by a partition from a public bar that keeps its old fittings. When the snug was refurbished in October 2015 the structural alterations planned for it were dropped after complaints, so the historic part survives; the snug bar, now called the Whisky Bar, keeps short hours, and drinks come from the back bar when it is shut. The name is Amelia 'Ma' Cameron's, who kept the pub in the 1930s, and the house was earlier Cameron's Inn. Aberdeen City Council's sites record notes that the ground beneath an extension was excavated in 1980 and published in the city's medieval burgh volume.

What to look for inside

One star on CAMRA's national inventory of historic pub interiors
Snug with bare bench seating, a service hatch and two perforated bentwood seats
Named after Amelia 'Ma' Cameron, who kept it in the 1930s
Earlier known as Cameron's Inn

Visiting

Ma Cameron's is in Aberdeen, Scotland, at 6-8 Little Belmont Street, Aberdeen AB10 1JG. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.

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