The Ceilidh Place

About The Ceilidh Place

The Ceilidh Place has been part of Ullapool since 1970, when it started life as a cafe in a boat shed. It has grown into a hotel, restaurant, bar, bookshop, gallery and live music venue occupying a row of whitewashed buildings on West Argyle Street, a couple of minutes uphill from the harbour. It is independent, slightly ramshackle in the best sense, and unlike anything else on the north-west coast.

There are 13 bedrooms in the main building, most of them en suite, furnished simply with books rather than televisions, and a few sharing bathrooms at a lower rate. Across the road the Clubhouse offers bunkhouse accommodation for walkers, cyclists and groups on a tight budget. Nobody would call the rooms luxurious, but they are warm, comfortable and characterful, and the upstairs parlour, stocked with books and an honesty bar, is where guests tend to end up in the evening.

Food is served all day, from coffee and cake to full dinners, with local seafood, vegetarian dishes and Scottish cheeses well represented. The bar carries real ale and a long whisky list. The bookshop is properly curated rather than a token shelf, concentrating on Scottish writing, poetry and music. Concerts, ceilidhs, readings and exhibitions run throughout the year and the venue is a fixture of the Ullapool arts calendar.

Ullapool itself is a working fishing port and the ferry terminal for Stornoway on Lewis. The village sits on Loch Broom with hills on every side. Stac Pollaidh, Suilven and the Inverpolly wilderness lie to the north, the Corrieshalloch Gorge is a short drive inland, and the North Coast 500 passes straight through. The hotel suits independent travellers, walkers, musicians and anyone who likes their accommodation to have opinions of its own.