House of Bruar: Field Notes from the Highland Department Store

Half-day field notes from a visit to House of Bruar, the family-owned Highland department store on the A9 outside Pitlochry. The visit is a deliberate stop on the drive between Edinburgh and Inverness for many visiting golfers; the store has become the heritage-tweed-and-knitwear destination of the country. What's worth buying, what's worth skipping, and the visit-as-experience verdict.

What House of Bruar actually is

A purpose-built grey-stone retail complex 20 miles north of Pitlochry, immediately off the A9 (the main north-south Highland route). Founded in 1995 by Mark and Linda Birkbeck on what was a working sheep farm. Family-owned still; Mark Birkbeck was awarded an OBE in 2018 for services to retail and tourism in Scotland.

Three buildings, all linked by interior corridors. The first holds the Country Clothing & Knitwear Hall — the heart of the store and the reason most visitors come. The second holds the Food Hall — Scottish charcuterie, cheese, smoked fish, the kitchen, the café. The third holds the Cashmere & Sporting Goods Hall — the upper-end heritage knitwear, the country-sports apparel, the gallery of Scottish wildlife art.

You can do the visit in 90 minutes if focused; most visitors take three hours. The car park accommodates 800 cars. On a weekend in summer the place is genuinely full; on a weekday in October you'll have it largely to yourself.

The Country Clothing Hall

The largest of the three halls. Two key sections worth knowing:

The knitwear wall

Stocks all the major Tier 1 heritage brands — Johnstons of Elgin, Begg & Co, Hawico, Glenmac — alongside House of Bruar's own-brand knitwear (which is good, materially cheaper, and made primarily in the UK with some imported finished knits). The depth of stock is unusual for a UK retailer: full ranges of Johnstons cashmere V-necks, multiple Hawico colourways, Begg & Co scarves in the Bridge of Weir patterns.

Prices are typical retail rather than discounted — the visit-as-experience justifies the spend rather than the saving. Johnstons V-necks £150–£350 depending on weight and material; Hawico £180–£400; Begg & Co scarves £80–£260; House of Bruar own-brand cashmere £130–£200 (the value pick).

For visiting golfers: a Johnstons of Elgin lambswool V-neck in heather grey, a House of Bruar own-brand crew in moss green, and a Begg & Co scarf in the Bridge of Weir tartan covers most of the heritage-knitwear case for under £400 total.

The tweed section

The deepest tweed inventory anywhere in the country we've seen. Harris Tweed jackets, gilets, caps, accessories. Borders-mill tweed for the value tier. Custom-made tailoring to measure (4-6 week lead time, prices from around £600 for a jacket).

For visiting golfers, two specific items worth the visit:

• Tweed flat caps in proper Harris weave — £35–£60. The single most-rewarding small heritage-apparel purchase available. House of Bruar's own-brand selection is strong; the named-mill versions (Locharron, Marton Mills) carry slight premium for the verifiable provenance.
• Tweed gilets — £180–£280. Wool-faced, often leather-trimmed. The gilet over a fine-knit base layer is the autumn-Scottish-links photograph; the House of Bruar selection is the best curated.

The Cashmere & Sporting Goods Hall

The upper-end hall. Worth a half-hour even if you don't plan to buy.

The cashmere section here is a step above the Country Clothing Hall — full ranges of the upper Johnstons collection (including the limited "Made in Hawick" capsule that ships in autumn with a £100 premium over the Elgin base line), the Hawico extended-colour range (40+ colourways across V-necks and crews), and the smaller Borders names like William Lockie that don't appear in most UK department stores.

The sporting goods section is largely shooting-and-stalking apparel rather than golf-specific — but the country boots, the wool walking socks, and the moleskin trousers all transfer to a golf trip. Galvin Green waterproofs are stocked here too, alongside the Sunderland of Scotland range; both at standard retail.

The Food Hall

Worth knowing about even if apparel is the point of the visit. Three distinct sections:

• The butcher — Highland beef, Black Face mutton, venison from the Atholl Estate. Vacuum-packed for travel; visitors driving onward to Highland self-catering frequently fill a coolbox here.
• The cheese counter — Mull cheddar, Isle of Mull blue, Lanark blue, Crowdie, Auld Reekie smoked. A £25 selection box is a reasonable take-home.
• The smokehouse fish counter — Scottish smoked salmon, smoked haddock for cullen skink, smoked mackerel. Vacuum-packed; lasts the drive north.

The café/restaurant section serves all-day food — the Scottish breakfast (£14) is the best on the A9 corridor; the venison shepherd's pie at lunch (£18) is the local recommendation.

What to skip

Three categories the store stocks but visitors over-buy:

1. The full Harris Tweed jacket. £400–£800 for a tweed jacket cut in a generic styling that may not flatter you, made in non-bespoke run sizes, when the same money commissioned to measure (with the same Harris cloth) gets you a properly-fitting garment. Save the spend for the bespoke tailor.

2. The "Scotland" branded leisurewear. The store stocks a range of Scottish-flag-and-thistle souvenir knitwear at the lower end of the price ladder. The Tier 1 heritage versions cost the same and last a decade longer. Skip the branded; buy the heritage.

3. The whisky section. It exists; the selection is fine; the prices are retail. The cluster's whisky bars piece covers the better Scottish whisky-buying contexts. House of Bruar is the right place to buy knitwear, not whisky.

The practical visit

Where: A9 between Pitlochry and Blair Atholl. Postcode PH18 5TW. Direct A9 access; signed clearly from both directions.

Timing: Open 9am–5.30pm seven days. Quietest weekday mornings; busiest summer Saturdays. Allow 90 minutes if focused, 3 hours for the proper visit.

The drive context: Genuinely worth a deliberate stop. The visit pairs well with the Edinburgh → Inverness drive (House of Bruar is roughly halfway), the Edinburgh → Royal Dornoch drive (same), or as a day-trip from Speyside or Pitlochry-based visitors. Not worth a special drive from St Andrews; worth a stop on any A9 trip.

Online vs in-store: The website carries roughly 70% of the in-store inventory. The Tier 1 heritage capsule lines (the limited Hawico colourways, the bespoke tweed orders) are in-store-only. For non-bespoke knitwear and the standard tweed range, online is fine — particularly for visitors who want to buy after the trip rather than carry it home.

What we bought

For two visitors on a day trip from Edinburgh to Royal Dornoch in late September:

Item	Price
Johnstons of Elgin lambswool V-neck (navy)	£150
Begg & Co Bridge of Weir scarf (rust check)	£160
House of Bruar own-brand Harris-faced flat cap	£45
Mull cheddar + smoked salmon for the cottage	£35
Café lunch + coffee	£42
Total spend	£432

The two heritage items both still in regular use four years later. The cap has been to twelve courses. The scarf has survived three October Scottish trips and one funeral.

For visiting golfers, House of Bruar is the rare retail experience that fits the trip's editorial register rather than disrupting it. The visit itself is part of the trip, and the items bought are part of subsequent trips. Worth the stop.