page_title: Forfar
section_title: Other items of interest
hierarchical_section_title: Forfar / Other items of interest
caption_attribution_description: English: Forfar Town Hall Scotland
context_page_description: Forfar is the county town of Angus, Scotland and the administrative centre for Angus Council. It has a population of 14,048.
  Forfar dates back to the temporary Roman occupation of the area, and was subsequently held by the Picts and the Kingdom of Scotland. It was occupied by the English before being recaptured by the Scots and presented to Robert the Bruce during the Scottish Wars of Independence. Forfar has been both a traditional market town and a major manufacturing centre for linen and jute. Today the main activities are agriculture and tourism around scenic Strathmore. The local glens are visited by hill-walkers, and there are ski-slopes in the mountains. The town has a League One football club, Forfar Athletic and a National League rugby team, the Strathmore Silverbacks.
  The Forfar bridie, a Scottish meat pastry snack, is traditionally identified with the town.
context_section_description: The town is traditionally identified with the Forfar Bridie, a meat pastry snack popular with locals and visitors, although strictly it comes from nearby Glamis. The Forfar Bridie has been featured on many TV programmes. A recipe for the Forfar bridie was also featured in "Maw Broon's Cookbook".
  Another feature of the town is the Forfar Loch Country Park, which is visited by locals as a walking venue. It is said that the Forfar Loch extended over much more of Forfar in the 1800s, going as far up as Orchardbank and Wellbrae. A drainage project brought the water level down. In about the same time period the loch was used to dump raw sewage; thankfully this practice is no longer continued: it is now treated sewage.
  The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the town and surrounding area in 2004 (the first time in around 30 years) and again in 2011. HRH Prince Charles, the Duke of Rothesay, visited the town in April 2012 to take the salute of the Black Watch during the regiment's homecoming parade, marking its return from a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan.
  The town lies in Strathmore and is situated just off the main A90 road between Perth and Aberdeen, with Dundee (the nearest city) being 13 miles (21 km) away.  It is approximately 5 miles (8 km) from Glamis Castle, seat of the Bowes-Lyon family and ancestral home of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and where the late Princess Margaret, younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II, was born in 1930.
  The town is near to the Angus Glens, including Glen Doll, Glen Clova and Glen Prosen, that are popular with skiers and hill walkers.
  The town holds many events throughout the year such as the bi-annual Forfar Mara-Fun, which raises money for charity, and the annual Forfar Food Festival highlighting some of the local food.  There is also a monthly farmers' market.
  Agriculture and tourism are some of the town's major industries.  It also acts as an administrative centre for Angus Council, with a new multimillion-pound office complex currently on the outskirts of the town.
  Forfar is also home to the Strathmore Mineral Water Co., Ltd., a bottled mineral water producer now run by AG Barr. The company's products are shipped worldwide.
  Forfar is also known for the "coo o Forfar".  A householder left a tub of beer in the doorway to cool, and a passing cow drank it.  When the owner of the cow was charged for the beer, a baillie ruled that if the beer was drunk at the doorway it was "deoch an doras" or "stirrup cup", to charge for which would be an insult to Scots hospitality.  This became a byword: "Be like the coo o Forfar, an tak a stannin drink".
caption: Forfar Town Hall
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