Secret rooftop bar is a little pizza heaven.. and perfect for the pallet

Remember the TV comedy sketch show Burnistoun? One of their most popular recurring characters was the wooden pallets salesman.

A recent visit to Inverness revealed the location of his warehouse. It’s on the rooftop terrace of the Black Isle Bar.

On Market Close in the city centre, the Black Isle Bar is a curious combo of beer cellar, dormitory hostel and al-fresco drinking space on the roof.

The ‘secret garden’ is a brilliant use of space and, of course, wooden pallets. The whole upstairs drinking area is built around reclaimed industrial by-products, such as crates, corrugated iron, beer kegs and those huge wooden bobbin reels used for cables, now used as tables at the Black Isle Bar. There’s even a stool carved out of a gnarly log into the shape of Nessie.

There are planters made from up-ended wooden pallets, where bunches of herbs grow, and there are trees too.

It’s got a shack-in-themiddle-of-nowhere feel and it works brilliantly, with outdoor heating, fairly lights and plenty of shelter should the weather turn Scottish.

Pub Spy was so impressed by the place that we visited twice over the course of a weekend.

The lunch-time wood-fired pizza was superb, cooked in the giant kitchen downstairs, with haggis, salmon and venison among the toppings. They refer to these as “biodynamic, local ingredients”.

Pub Spy is happy to take them at their word because, whatever it is, it’s really good.

It’s pizza in a hut, maybe, but this is better than Pizza Hut by the length of Loch Ness.

By the time we swung by again that night, the secret garden was the worst-kept secret in town.

Everyone was there, drinking under the fairy lights as the light in the sky stretched well into the night, the way it does in summer up north, with a special rooftop bar open, too.

Downstairs, the bar is an outlet for the indie brewery at Munlochy on the Black Isle and the beer selection is enormous – Pub Spy counted 26 tap options from lagers and sours to stouts and IPAs.

It’s a quirky joint and is certainly the only place where fresh linen and private showers for £55 a night is advertised on the same chalkboard as gluten-free lager and organic, vegan, coeliac-friendly pizza.

Weirdly, the whole vibe reminded us of a holiday stay at Hostelling International on Union Square in San Francisco.

And, while the Kessock Bridge is no rival to the Golden Gate, a night drinking under the late summer light on top of the brilliant Black Isle Bar felt like a million miles from home.