The Scottish Arms is back behind its bar at 8 S. Sarah St. in the Central West End, pouring scotch and European beers in a room that still looks almost exactly like it did before the pub closed after nearly 20 years in business in July 2024. The dark wood, antique mirrors, vintage chandeliers and a back bar imported from Italy remain intact, and so does founder Alistair “Ally” Nisbet’s original menu of scotch eggs, fish and chips and shepherd’s pie.
The reopening, which happened in December 2025, was spearheaded by hospitality veteran Marla Hare-Griffin, according to Ladue News. Hare-Griffin worked with 20-year Hi-Pointe managing partner Lisa Andris and former Austin bar owner Fritz Beer to bring the pub back, per the same outlet’s reporting from July 2024 detailing the closure and the acquisition group’s formation, as reported by Sauce Magazine. “We’re honored to keep it going,” Hare-Griffin said of the team’s effort to preserve the pub.
Nisbet opened The Scottish Arms in May 2005 and ran it for nearly two decades before the July 2024 closure, when a planned ownership sale fell through, Sauce Magazine reported. General Manager Michael Cline had been with the pub since its opening day through that closure. Nisbet’s original recipes carried over into the reopened version of the pub, giving longtime regulars a familiar plate of scotch eggs, fish and chips and shepherd’s pie alongside the classic bar’s dark wood and antique mirrors.
New Dishes Join the Old Favorites
The kitchen under the reopened ownership added a masala chicken sandwich, a smashburger topped with rarebit sauce and beer-onion jam, and pork sausage rolls, according to Ladue News. Hare-Griffin worked with kitchen lead Mike Szymanski on the expanded menu and consulted Civil Life head soup maker Kaleigh Brundick as part of the culinary planning. Salads, shrimp skewers and polenta cakes round out a menu that now blends Nisbet’s traditional pub fare with newer additions…