HORSE AND JOCKEY, HIGH STREET
You might sneak in to the Horse and Jockey to escape the melee of traffic outside and find a number of hours have mysteriously passed on by. It appears fairly plain and uninspiring inside, but the ale is good, and that counts for a heck of a lot. What's lacking in the frills department is made up for by a flat-screen television the size of a garden shed.

THE WALLACE CAVE, BLOOMGATE
Sitting on a seriously busy main road that runs through Lanark, The Wallace Cave's exterior belies warm innards that feel good as soon as you walk in. This is a nice pub. I could probably spend longer than was good for me in a place like this, occasionally peering out of a window in the hope of seeing a few drops of rain and an excuse for just one more. William Wallace, who had caves in various places in the country when hiding from the English was, and is, something of a celebrity in the town. He had a house here. His wife was murdered by the English in 1297, a heart-wrenching crime which saw Wallace take furious revenge on the English garrison in Lanark by sacking it and killing the Sheriff. This then set in motion a chain of events that saw the English army defeated at Stirling Bridge and, ultimately, after the death of Wallace, the freedom of all of Scotland at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. If I were Wallace, I'd hide in here. No doubt about that.