The Drovers Inn, Inverarnan

The Drovers Inn

Inverarnan, North Loch Lomond G83 7DX

Grade C · TraditionTrading · checked Sept 2026

The Drovers Inn claims 1705. The records say 1776.

Claimed

1705

First record

1776

Building

no single date

The building. 18th-century core, with additions probably of 1825-30 and of 1853; the right-hand rear wing was raised by a storey in 1853, and the stonework, once harled and stuccoed, is now exposed (HES LB8288) — we give it no single date because 1825 dates a later addition; the register puts the core in the eighteenth century without naming a year.

Rooms

Haunted

Food

The claim

At the head of Loch Lomond on the West Highland Way, the Drovers Inn claims to have served cattle drovers since 1705. Historic Environment Scotland places its core in the eighteenth century, with the inn shown on a 1776 map. Low ceilings, taxidermy including a stuffed bear in the hall and plenty of ghost stories make it a legendary walkers' stop.

What the records show

Historic Environment Scotland dates the core to the eighteenth century, notes the inn on a map of 1776, and suggests it may have begun as barracks for Caulfield's military road of 1748-53, with additions of about 1825-30 and of 1853. All of that sits against the 1705, for which no source has been found, and the house itself is careful in its wording, claiming three centuries rather than a year. Read in full on 17 September 2026, the record names the map, which matters more than the year on its own: it is Taylor and Skinner's survey of the Scottish roads, published in 1776 and held by the National Library of Scotland at EMS.b.3.48, and the register says the house is marked on it as an inn. That is the document behind the earliest record shown here, and it is sixty-nine years younger than the year the house is known by. Three other things come out of the same reading. The designation is of 5 October 1971 and the inn is B-grouped with its stables and steading across the road. An older version of the list description had this as the original house of the Glen Falloch estate, and Historic Environment Scotland now calls that unlikely, offering the road-builders' barracks instead. And the register's reading list is where anyone going further should start: Charles McKean's architectural guide to Stirling and the Trossachs of 1994 and the Buildings of Scotland volume for Stirling and central Scotland of 2002, neither of which has been read here. The bar is open to non-residents and dogs, with live music every weekend and food served daily.

Dated evidence for The Drovers Inn, earliest first
Year	What	Source
1705	Claimed founding	The pub
1776	First record of a drinking house here	Historic Environment Scotland

What to look for inside

Stuffed bear and other taxidermy in the hall
Named one of Scotland's most haunted pubs by The Scotsman
Popular stop on the West Highland Way

Visiting

The Drovers Inn is in Inverarnan, Scotland, at Inverarnan, North Loch Lomond G83 7DX. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.

droversinn.co.uk Directions in your maps app