13 Café Kawiarnia
1B Alloway Place, Ayr
SatNav: KA7 2AA
Tel: 07871 576979
It’s a testimony to just how enthusiastic about canines the Kawiarnia cafes are – there are actually two of them in Ayr – that on their Facebook page they have more than 100 photos with dogs in them. They even have a top dog contest, and a host of much-loved regulars, including Monty the Newfoundland, a mascot for the RAF. Dogs are always served – water and treats as required – on arrival and before their owners. Their latest doggy indulgence is homemade Doggie Ice Cream. Treats for the humans include fresh dough pizzas made from scratch by their award-winning pizza chef, Polish dishes and fresh waffles. Their coffees are premium blends from Thomson’s roastery, Scotland’s oldest roaster. The second venue, The Kawiarnia Coffee House, is on Newmarket Street.
14 Poppy Room
9C Church St, Troon
SatNav: KA10 6AU
Tel: 01292 318750
A popular spot for dog-walkers after a stroll along Troon beach, this characterful coffee shop provides water bowls and dog biscuits. Occasionally owners, they say, treat their dogs to “a nice piece of slice sausage or toast and butter”. For humans they serve up breakfasts and homemade lunches, as well as fresh scones every morning – plain or fruit, plus a special scone of the day. Their fudge scone is a local favourite. Sunday is one of the busiest days thanks to the regular dog walkers. More ambitious hikers might like to try the Smugglers’ Trail walk along coast and through the Fullarton Woods.
15 Café Strange Brew
1082 Pollokshaws Rd, Glasgow
SatNav: G41 3XA
Tel: 0141 440 7290
“We like humans and we like dogs,” says Café Strange Brew on Facebook. Last year this local favourite in the heart of Shawlands clinched the number one spot for cafes in Glasgow on TripAdvisor. Organic brunch, vegan dishes, soup, French toast and sandwiches with a wholesome twist ... or maybe you'd prefer "slow-cooked ox cheek French toast with smoked cheddar and gochujang ketchup" or "crispy fried duck eggs and peat-smoked haddock". Dear Green Coffee and Tea Pigs tea served here. One of the best brunch spots in Scotlnad.
16 Singl-End Café And Bakehouse
263 Renfrew Street, Glasgow
SatNav: G3 6TT
Web: www.thesingl-end.co.uk
Tel: 0141 353 1277
If you’re looking for a gallery of some of the cutest canines in Glasgow then you’d struggle to find one more adorable than the Singl-end Instagram feed, which likes to pay tribute to its doggy customers. There are now two Singl-ends, both with the same chilled, bohemian atmosphere, but this one, in Garnethill, was the original. Dogs are given water and biscuits when they come in and all of the staff are dog lovers. “It was decided for the cafe to be dog-friendly,” they say, “because dogs are awesome and who doesn’t like bringing their pooch out for brunch!?!" Top reason to go here is that famous brunch – their “meaty baked eggs”, casserole of sausage with cannellini beans, tomato and spinach, for instance, or their Singl-End Eggs Florentine – but the cakes, opulently arranged on a large table, are to die for any time of day. Our restaurant critic Joanna Blythman described them as “traffic stoppers”. “I love the cognitive dissonance of modern brunch places,” she wrote. “You eat something supposedly health enhancing then instantly set about undoing any good you did yourself. I fall for it every time.” Vegan and gluten-free available.
17 Coach House Coffee Shop and Store
Church Road, Luss, Loch Lomond
SatNav: G83 8NN
Tel: 01436 860341
The management at the Coach House are keen dog lovers – and not only offer them a free chew and a bowl of water, but plenty of fuss and cuddles. The café is even host to a resident schnauzer. A walk in Loch Lomond national park, particularly on a chill day, is best ended here, by the roaring fire in one of their comfy armchairs – or, on bright days, in their tea garden. Winner of “Best Café Ambience” at this year’s Scottish Café Awards. The eggs here are freshly laid by their own free-range flock of Black Rock hens. Tea is served from big, quirky ceramic pots. Everything is charmingly rough and rustic, served in big thick chunks – whopper scones and doorstopper bread slices – on tartan ceramic plates.
18 Bulland’s Coffee Shop
Mugdock Road, Milngavie
SatNav: G62 8PD
Tel: 0141 956 6255
There are plenty of reasons to find yourself at the wonderfully bonkers – as in teddies, seemingly randomly stuck to its ceiling, as if mid sky-dive – and retro Bulland’s Coffee Shop. Not all of them involve having to walk part of the West Highland Way, though if that’s what you are doing, dug in tow, be sure to make a point of stopping here before you leave Milngavie. For instance, there’s the fact that they're so welcoming they even give many visiting dogs a sausage in a bowl. Then there’s the food for the human companions – soups, salads, snacks, delicious cakes, wraps, homemade chips, crab omelette. Vegetarian and gluten-free options available.
19 Café Circa at the Atrium
79-81 Main Street Callander
SatNav: FK17 8DX
Web: www.doune.cafe-circa.com
Tel: 01877 381233
One thing that Café Circa at the Atrium really knows how to do is welcome dogs. Here, beds, biscuits and water are supplied. This licensed restaurant is on the first floor above a clothing store and has lovely views of Ben Ledi and the Crags. Meats come from an award-winning local butcher and fresh Scottish-landed fish from award winning local fishmonger. Baking is done in-house daily and won an award last year. Its sister café at Doune, which in fact was the original, is also dog-friendly.
20 Honeycomb & Co
1 Merchiston Place, Edinburgh
SatNav: EH10 4NP
Web: www.honeycombandco.com
Tel: 0131 228 4641
This bright, trendy, dog-friendly cafe in Bruntsfield is not only inspired by food from all around the world, but by the bees that make its honey. It works with Plan Bee – an ethical Scottish business which offers beehive adoption and has adopted some of the hives to use its honey and pollen in the cafe's baking, including the signature honey buns. The menu is a mouth-watering global adventure in itself. For breakfast, for instance, there’s hipster brunch classic shakshuka – eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, chilli peppers, and garlic with spices – and spiced Korean bacon and egg. Lunch could be comforting mac and cheese or spicy Vietnamese king prawn pho. It is, it says, more than happy to welcome well-behaved dogs on leads.
21 Piecebox Café
2 Polwarth Crescent, Edinburgh
SatNav: EH11 1HW
Web: www.piecebox.co.uk
Tel: 0131 629 6284
“The humans tell me their dogs know when they’re en route to Piecebox,” says owner Audrey, “and they basically bring them to the door.” Once inside this funky, colourful establishment, four-legged visitors get treated to the café’s speciality chipolata sausages, made using a recipe created for them by Ramsay’s of Carluke. They also have their own special bowls for water. Meanwhile, for the humans there are lots of breakfast and lunch options, from steak sandwiches to avocado fries– with plenty for the vegan or vegetarian, including an irresistible sweet potato burger. The cafe has a license too, and the cakes are so good, you want to take an extra one for your piecebox. You can even have your sponge with custard. It’s also host to the first Dachshund “Pup- up” cafe in Scotland, on July 20 – in which people get to mingle with sausage dogs and the canines get a free puppicino.
22 The Cottage Kitchen
5 Logies Lane, St Andrews
SatNav: KY16 9NL
Web: www.cottkitch.co.uk
Tel: 01334 479901
If you’re an advocate of the Fife diet principle of eating local, this is a perfect venue to head to. The management here passionately believes that “the food in Scotland and Fife is among the best in the world” and keenly uses local suppliers for its brunches, lunches, cakes and coffees. It tries to make most of the foods it sells on site – including the chutneys and jams. It also has the feel and atmosphere of a country café. The scones are legendary. And, while the establishment doesn’t lay on any special treats for dogs, staff are always very happy to have them chill there.
23 Cocoa Tree
9 High St, Pittenweem, Anstruther
SatNav: KY10 2LA
Web: www.pittenweemchocolate.co.uk
Tel: 01333 311495
A walk along the Fife coastal path is best topped off with one of the legendary hot chocolates served in this quaint little café, whether in the delightful courtyard or comfy indoors. Right in the middle of pretty Pittenweem, just a few roads up from the harbour, this white-fronted artisan establishment doesn’t just serve cocoa confections by chocolatier Sophie Latinis– there is also a very decent savoury menu of sandwiches, crepes, soups and stews. Water bowls on offer for thirsty hounds
24 Steampunk Coffee
49A Kirk Ports, North Berwick
SatNav: EH39 4HL
Web: www.steampunkcoffee.co.uk
Tel: 01620 893030
Steampunk is an off-the-main-drag, hidden wonder that has become a destination coffee pitstop for those in the know who are visiting the seaside town of North Berwick. Housed in a metal-frame warehouse, a former joinery workshop, it works its steampunk aesthetic hard with its coiled copper taps and exposed light bulbs. It also just loves dogs – and often has a sign out saying precisely that. The opening page of its website features a puppy trying to sip one of its freshly roasted, traceable, single-origin coffees from the cup. Among its top food offerings are their oozing grilled cheese sandwiches, alternative savoury muffins and lustworthy brownies. The sun-trap courtyard is ideal for a sunny post-beach chill and Friday evening sees a visit from the pizza van. Gluten-free options provided. Bikes are welcome too.
Read more articles in our dog-friendly Scotland series:
- How Scotland welcomes our four-legged friends
- Alison Rowat: Why we love our dogs – even if we don't always deserve them
- 14 dog-friendly days out and destinations in Scotland
Dog-friendly cafes
- The 12 best dog friendly cafes in central Scotland
- The Best Dog Friendly Cafes: North East
- 12 best dog-friendly cafes in The Borders and South of Scotland
Dog-friendly pubs
- Dog-friendly pubs in the Borders and south of Scotland
- Dog-friendly pubs in Central Scotland
- 12 dog-friendly pubs in the North, West and Islands
- Dog-friendly pubs in Aberdeenshire and the East of Scotland
Dog-friendly hotels
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here