Just off South Street sits a cosy Scottish pub. Regulars settle into tartan-covered booths as the smell of morning espresso hangs in the air. Ivy cascades down the walls, draping over black-and-white photographs chronicling the pub’s 150-year history. A dog lounges lazily in the corner. Candles flicker charmingly at every table. Hundreds of bottles of gin, whisky, and rum make up the bar.
This is The Criterion: a St Andrews’ staple, known amongst students as ‘the Cri’ and older folks as ‘the Crit.’ This quaint pub draws in a varied crowd of tourists, golfers, locals, students, and even famed names like Billy Murray, Pierce Brosnan, and Ian Ranken. In addition to the over 550 spirits offered, the Criterion is known for its world-famous ‘cri pies:’ a savoury pie with a flaky pastry topping, that brought in 27,500 customers last year alone.
Husband and wife, Steve and Hazel Latto, took over as pub owners 14 years ago, when they got a call whilst on holiday that the Criterion was up for sale.
“I always said if it becomes available, give me a shout,” Steve said. “Hazel wasn’t too sure about it. So we came in, had some lunch, and we said, ‘Yeah.’”
Hazel chimed in, “And then we had a pub. I hadn’t had a pint since I was 22, so I came in and was like, ‘What the hell am I doing?’ We quickly learned.”
Although the couple met working in a bar in Edinburgh and Steve spent the years following working at Heineken and Scottish & Newcastle, he said, “It was always something that if we got our own business, we’d want to design it so it’s more personal, to stay as much as possible away from the bigger brands.” The couple said they collaborate with local suppliers, even having made their own whisky, rum, and gin with Kingsbarns, a St Andrews distillery. The iconic buttery crust of the cri pies is made by Fisher and Donaldson, a bakery in town.
Open from 10 am till 11 pm, the pub offers a full menu of food, although the pies – specifically the steak and ale pie – are most popular, selling anywhere from 25-125 a day!
“We’ve had people walking in and going, ‘I’m here for the pies,’” Steve said.
“They’ll go home and tell their friends about them,” Hazel echoed.
In 2024, the Criterion won ‘Spirits Bar of the Year’ at the Scottish Licensed Trade News Awards, but they said the momentum doesn’t stop there. “You need to keep on moving with the times and evolving with the needs and wants of St Andrews and the locals and tourists,” Steve said. In addition to cocktails and pints, they offer a wide variety of mocktails and recently underwent coffee training to improve their espresso drinks.
Steve said they don’t have a target audience, they “serve anyone from five to eighty” and just focus on creating a safe and friendly environment. “It’s lovely when people sit at the bar; they come in on their own and before you know it, they’re all chatting away and they’ll find four or five friends,” Hazel said.
Being situated in a historically iconic, uni town means the couple have experienced their fair share of pub-goer tales. They regaled the time Bill Murray came into the pub, went behind the bar, and started pouring customers pints. And the time Pierce Brosnan was “just sat there, having a couple of pints,” like it was no big deal, Steve recalled. “It’s kind of weird and wonderful; you don’t know who’s coming in from one day to the next,” he said.
They also recalled a time when students left behind a shoe: “How did you leave a shoe behind?” Steve wondered. “We had a wheelchair left behind one time as well. And it’s like, ‘What, are we miracle workers?’ The drink was that good you managed to walk out of here,” Steve said, chuckling.
The pair said they count themselves lucky to have such an eclectic mix of customers. “You get people coming in on their wedding days that went to university here, and they’ll come in in their wedding dress. You get to see people at big life events…it’s lovely to be here for that sort of thing,” Hazel said.
Hazel and Steve said they’re looking forward to Easter, a lively time when tourist season overlaps with when students are in town, adding a buzz to their pub.
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