Good Food, Good Music and Good Pints Make Angus McToogle's Truly Scottish
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
There are numerous British and Irish pubs around but seldom do you hear of a Scottish pub. Angus McToogle's in Invermere, British Columbia is one of those rare creatures. You can almost hear the bagpipes playing when you hear the name alone, "Angus McToogle's." And that even before you hear their slogan, "eat, drink and get a wee bit Scottish!"
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ON STAGE at Angus McToogle's, Bruce and Mike play a selection of Celtic, folk, country and popular music which appeals to a wide range of people.
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Invermere is situated in the beautiful Columbia Valley, located on the warmer side of the Rocky mountains at the gate of Kootenay National Park. Other well-known tourist areas in the Columbia Valley are Radium Hot Springs, Panorama and Fairmont Hot Springs.
These areas are a vacationers’ paradise, with skiing in the winter and golfing, hiking, water skiing and fishing or simply just enjoying the dramatic mountains, water and beautiful scenery year ‘round. Invermere is approximately just over an hour’s drive from Banff, Golden or Cranbrook and about a two and a half hour drive from Calgary.
It’s no wonder that Scots-born Michael (Mike) Smith, the owner of Angus McToogle’s fell in love with the area while touring there shortly after arriving in Canada. “I left Scotland in the Sixties and lived in Australia and New Zealand before immigrating to Canada in 1967,” he said.
“I just took the train and travelled across Canada and I fell in love with the mountains up here. After returning to school to get a smattering of formal education, I joined the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce where I was promoted to auditor and had the opportunity to travel all over B.C. That’s how I discovered Invermere back in 1969 and I’ve lived here permanently since 1971.”
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MIKE SMITH
Owner of Angus McToogle's
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He opened McToogle’s last November and it is both a restaurant and a bar. Mike said, “we have a small bar area that overlooks one of our dining rooms that has a stage in it, so families can enjoy the entertainment together, just like in the old country. I did the place in the typical dark rich colours of the UK-style pubs. So, it certainly has a pub style atmosphere...yet, it’s a restaurant with a bar in it.”
McToogle’s is located in an old heritage building which has been renovated but which offers the charm of a Celtic pub, “especially with all the wee rooms,” says Mike. “Our main room would be approximately 30 in the bar area and maybe 40 to 45 in the dining room. We can take parties of 30 people for our upstairs rooms but we can’t take large parties.
“We have a big patio and an upstairs deck and in the summertime we have live music outside in the evenings. It’s quite delightful. We sit under some trees and have the big sunshades up. We also have our chef out there with the barbeque, so we can seat roughly 50 on the patio and 40 on the upstairs deck, so that’s very pleasant.”
There are no televisions in Angus McToogle’s because they believe if you’re in a pub, you’re there for the conversation. Mike says, “there’s nothing worse than having someone listening to your story, and then looking over your shoulder because they’re watching an exploding sports car on the third screen from the left. We play our own background music of folk and Celtic mostly.”
In keeping with the name, servers at Angus McToogle’s all wear kilts and their menu has a traditional favourites section with such dishes as bangers n’ mash, steak and mushroom pie, liver and onions and all the meat, potatoes and gravy dishes that the Celts like. However, in the summer months, there are more salads and wraps available along with the traditional favourites.
McToogle’s pours a good pint and Mike had that verified on his last visit to Ireland when he toured the Guinness and enjoyed a dark and creamy pint in their pub afterwards. He said, “you know, I couldn’t tell the difference between a pint at McToogle’s or a pint at Guinness...so I know we pour a good pint.”
Along with being the proprietor at McToogle’s, Mike also provides the entertainment, playing guitar, singing and telling jokes. He said, “number one is live music. I call it music for medium-aged people. We don’t do heavy metal, punk or a lot of top forties. We do a fair amount of Celtic, folk, country and popular. When my son, Fraser is home from university we play music together at the pub. He’s a very fine guitar player and singer and my friend Bruce also plays with me on a regular basis.”
Mike’s daughter Megan is his right-hand person at McToogle’s. She has lived a year in Australia and a year and a half in Scotland and by the time she was nine years old, she had been to Scotland nine times. Son Fraser and daughter Kyla also help out at the pub during their summer and winter breaks from university.
Mike said he particularly likes the term Celtic because it embodies the Irish, Scots and Welsh. He said, “the Irish and Scots have had a very strong connection over the years and there has been a lot of back and forth. For instance, most of Scotland’s roads were built by the Irish. One of my standard lines is that “we Scots are very fond of the Irish, we think they’re just Scots that can’t swim.
One of the main markets for McToogle’s is the proximity of Calgary, Alberta. “We’re on Calgary time here,” said Mike, “and people can leave Calgary after work at 5 PM and be here in two and a half hours.
“We’re in the midst of a building boom here and it’s just unprecedented. They’re building condos, not cabins anymore but second homes, and some of them are just unbelievable. There’s no question that we get a tremendous number of tourists and a lot of Brits come out here on holidays both in summer and winter. Certainly tourists visit from around the world, but our predominant market would be Alberta.”
Mike Smith is very proud of his Scottish roots even the ring tones on his cell phone play Scotland The Brave. He chose the name Angus for the pub because he felt people would identify with Angus as Scottish and he said the McToogle’s was just something a little bit silly and fun. He said he wants his customers to know that Angus McToogle’s is a fun place and in fact, Mike has gotten used to being called Angus at the pub and he doesn’t mind that at all.
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Angus McToogle’s is located at 1321 Seventh Avenue in downtown Invermere. For more information, call (250) 341-6868 or visit: www.columbiavalleytourism.com.
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