The Long Version

The building which we now know as “The Star and Garter” was conceived in the same year as was Scotland’s national bard, Robert Burns. The year 2009 marked the 250th anniversary of the poet’s birth in 1759 – and also 250 years of Number One, High Street, Linlithgow: affectionately known to local residents as simply “The Star.”

Robert Burns would have travelled past the entrance to the building on his visit to Linlithgow in 1787, entering the town through the East High Port or Gateway, its position now marked by brass studs in the roadway just outside the hotel. The stately, three storey, Georgian mansion was the home of the rich Boyd family – merchants and ship owners. Between 1818 and 1830 John Boyd was Provost of Linlithgow and it is his property which is marked on John Wood’s 1820 map of the burgh.

The original house boasted six bedrooms and a stately ballroom but, in the 1840s, it was transformed into a Public House. An 1847 invoice shows it belonging to James Burleigh who, in addition to running the “Star and Garter Hotel”, also hired out Gigs, Droskies (low, four-wheeled carriages), Job and Post Horses.

The horses would have been kept in stables - clearly marked on the mid 19th century OS map. Some of the steeds would have been used to pull the Edinburgh to Linlithgow Post Chaise which would use the Star and Garter as a coaching inn. 

One of these stage coaches has been renovated and now lives in Kentucky!

The hostelry was also in an excellent position to accommodate travellers using the new Edinburgh to Glasgow railway which, from the year 1842, passed right above the building. “The Star and Garter” in fact would have been an archetypal railway hotel – in the style of many across the country at that time. In the 1860s, the building fell into the hands of the Whitten family. Innkeeper John Whitten is buried beneath an elaborate headstone in the graveyard of St Michael’s Church. A relative of the family, Sherrif Whitten, left a sum of money in his will to build an elaborate, wrought iron fountain outside the hotel.

Whitten Lane is named after the town’s benefactor.

Other 19th century publicans included John Maddox whose invoices advertised “Wines, Carriages and Post Horses” and T. M. Woodcock who charged the Linlithgow Town Council £8 - 9shillings and 6 pence in 1877 for transporting officials to inspect the town reservoir at Lochcote. His hired transport was also used for pulling the town ambulance to and from Linlithgow Hospital.

Mr Woodock was a great supporter of the Linlithgow and Stirlingshire Hunt and the huntsmen would regularly meet outside his inn. The horses would be stabled in the area to the east of the building, where the small car park now exists. Members of the hunt would receive a “Meet Card” such as this one.

The horses would be brought by train from Haymarket and Ratho Stations and unloaded in the goods yard at Linlithgow Station. The stirrup cup would be drunk in front of ‘The Star’ before pursuing the fox in the Bathgate Hills: a practice now forbidden and condemned to the history books.

The group would also hold their Hunt Ball in ‘The Star and Garter’. One such dinner recorded in the annals of the organisations for April, 1856, states that about 80 members sat down under the chairmanship of Major Sharp of Houston to pay tribute to the Master of the Hounds, Captain James Sandilands.
It must have made a glorious show as everyone attending was dressed in regulation attire of “white waistcoat, over-worn with blue coat with black velvet, turn-down collars and yellow buttons embossed with the letters LSH.” If anyone turned up wearing the wrong dress code they were fined a gallon of best claret!

In the year 1881, the Linlithgow Bowling Club was formed in the hotel – an occasion celebrated in 2006 when the Club held their 125th anniversary in the same building.
Mr Woodock declared in a Marches Programme of 1899 that his establishment possessed “First Class bedrooms, a commodious bar and a billiard room.” Under his charge, the hotel hosted many local events including wedding receptions, church gatherings, political meetings and social occasions. While his business flourished, unfortunately Mr Woodcock’s own health failed and on account of gout and rheumatism, he was obliged to accompany the hunt, riding in his dog cart (not a form of transport actually pulled by a dog but a light, one-horse carriage!)

By 1921 the Star and Garter had moved out of Woodcock hands and was being run by Mrs V. M’Minn, a widowed lady who advertised in the Marches Programme that she would give “every comfort and attention” to all customers “at moderate charges.”

In the 1930s and 40s, the hostelry was run by George Ebbs and then by the legendary “Miffy” Boyd. No one seemed to know his real name - he was always “Miffy” – apparently after a well known, 1920s, cartoon character. He was a tiny man, but with a huge character: a town councillor and, by all accounts, his one abiding passion was the provision of a good water supply for the burgh. He would regale any unsuspecting customer in the public bar with an impassioned rant about poor quality water and, holding up a glassful, go on at length about what should be done about it. His lively personality attracted many organisations to hold their functions in the Star, including the Curling Club, the Cricket Club, and the Conservative Association (just to mention the Cs!)

The hotel was then purchased by the Pearce family whose adverts included their new telephone number “Linlithgow 26”, and declared that the establishment was AA and RAC approved.

 
Marches Programme advert, 1954

Ronnie Pearce, the son of the original owners, ran the pub in the 50s and early 60s. He was a well-liked figure in the town, a keen cricketer who played for the County team. Under his control, the public bar acquired some unusual, mock-Tudor beams and the lounge bar was equipped with a carpet bearing gaily woven trumpets.
The Star was able to take advantage of the old “Bona Fide” drinking laws which declared that one could not drink on a Sunday in one’s own local hotel. In order to consume alcohol, you had to be a traveller, voyaging at least three miles from home. Thus it was that the residents of Bridgend would congregate in the Star on a Sunday evening and engage in singing - as many had done in their days as shale miners.

In the mid 1960s, the Star became the property of local character, and town councillor, David Bryce. He was a generous landlord who held many excellent social gatherings on the premises. The “back lounge” became a favourite haunt of members of local groups – and much clandestine business was conducted. In the late 60s, a band of enthusiasts began discussing the possibility of resurrecting the town’s Rugby Club which had initially set up in the 1920s. Eventually, in 1970, Linlithgow Rugby Club was duly instituted in the back room of ‘The Star’.

The building changed hands again in the 1970s. In 1975, the new owner, Hugh Keenan, announced in the Marches programme that the establishment was “undergoing a period of complete restoration which when complete will re-establish the hotel as one of the best in West Lothian.” What did emerge was a completely revamped bar area. Away went the old back room and in came a new restaurant called El Rancho. Upstairs, Bowlers Discotheque emerged - an attraction to many of the younger members of the community.

The Star was to change hands again in the late twentieth and in the early twenty-first century – being owned firstly by a syndicate which also ran the Kaim Park Hotel in Bathgate and then by Bill and Doreen Atkinson who transformed the hotel, upgrading all 15 bedrooms and consequently being awarded a three star rating from “Visit Scotland” Tourist Association.

The little, adjoining public bar was sold off separately - firstly to a syndicate which included John Robertson, the Hearts and Scotland football player, and then to Ian Gibson who called it “Platform 3” (there already being two platforms in the nearby railway station.

In the year 2006 the Linlithgow Branch of the football-supporting Tartan Army was formed in the hotel which is now owned by John Bartlett who is aiming to improve the standard of the facilities yet further in the years to come.

Linlithgow Band in 1891 at the Star and Garter. Note the ‘heraldic’ lamp bearing the Star’s emblems- the motifs of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.