De Pere meets the Highlands: Local pub with a Scottish twist

Rich Palzewic

Staff

January 12, 2026

DE PERE – After being in the entertainment business for more than two decades, Scott and Gretchen Trowbridge said it was time to settle down and live out their other dreams.

The couple, owners of the recently-opened Scotty Dog’s Pub in De Pere, said Northeast Wisconsin was the perfect place to open their Scottish-style pub.

“So far, things have been going well,” Gretchen said. “We’ve had a lot of support from other local small businesses in the area – they’ve been great to work with.”

Gretchen said the pub – located at 127 N. Broadway – offers local craft beers and a limited variety of cocktails, all made on site.

“Eventually, we’ll have our own little food menu, but it won’t be anything compared to what De Pere already has – we’ll ease into that,” she said. “We won’t have fried cheese curds or a fish fry – it will be smaller plates, appetizers, nibbles, scones, finger sandwiches, etc.”

Scott, who is originally from Aberdeen, Scotland, said the choice to use “pub” rather than “bar” in the name reflects his and Gretchen’s goal of creating a welcoming gathering place.

“So far, it’s becoming that,” he said. “We want friends to come in and talk and be social, without music blaring. Bars in the U.K. (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) are noisier and more chaotic. Pubs are better places for catch-up and good conversation.”

While traditional pours anchor the menu, Scott said the espresso martini is drawing increasing interest.

“It’s been a good thing and a bad thing – people come in asking for it, but we can only make one at a time,” he laughed. “If we’re busy, it can take us a bit to make them all. None of the cocktails are pre-made – they’re all shaken and stirred. The cocktail menu is smaller, but they are made with heart.”

From a bank to a pub

Gretchen said the building that now houses Scotty Dog’s Pub was originally a bank built in 1876, and when they purchased it, they were fortunate to work with a contractor specializing in historic restorations.

“He pulled up all the 1993 gray laminate, pulled the wallpaper off the marble and pulled the drywall off to expose the brick,” Gretchen said. “We were in love with the place to begin with, but [the contractor] kept finding things that made it better and better.”

Gretchen said the original safe deposit boxes from the building’s bank days are still on display.

“Urban legend says they haven’t been opened since it was a bank,” she laughed. “We don’t have the keys for them.”

Scott said in Scotland, many pubs are housed in historic buildings like old churches, and Scotty Dog’s Pub follows that same tradition.

“Irish pubs are dark and cozy with wood grain,” Gretchen said. “From my first experience [walking into a Scottish pub], they are brighter than Irish pubs with more white walls.”

Though they purchased the North Broadway building in April 2022, Gretchen said unforeseen delays pushed the pub’s opening to Nov. 10 of last year, nearly a year later than planned.

“It’s a shame the building essentially sat empty for that long,” she said. “The renovations were more extensive than we originally thought. Of course, we found asbestos that had to be removed and dealt with plumbing issues. What can we say – it’s a building from the 1870s.”

Similarly to the building, Gretchen said there is a story behind the name Scotty Dog’s Pub as well.

“Of course, my husband’s name is Scott, and the word ‘Dog’s’ is possessive as compared to being plural,” she said. “In this case, ‘Dog’s’ is an ‘Easter egg’ to one of the roles I used to perform as.”

Scott said the costly renovations led to some sleepless nights, as he wondered whether the project would ultimately come to fruition.

“You can’t help but think that way at times when all you’re doing is writing checks and there is no money coming in,” he said. “Having said that, it’s been all worth it.”

But as the project started to take shape – including the pub’s distinctive bottlecap bar top – Scott said their vision for Scotty Dog’s Pub began to come to life.

“That’s many years of collecting,” he said. “When a bartender opens a bottle with his opener, it’s often bent. We put this bar top together ourselves, and when people come inside, they are mesmerized by it – the caps are from all over the world.”

A career change

Scott and Gretchen – who performed with Disney on Ice for 22 and 25 years, respectively – said they met while touring in Indiana.

“I like to say Mickey Mouse is the world’s greatest matchmaker,” Gretchen laughed. “If it weren’t for Disney on Ice, I never would have come across a Scotsman in Indiana. It was a marvelous organization to work for. We had a great opportunity to travel the world, live together and work together. The spotlight was amazing – every time you showed up for work, somebody clapped for you – just because you were there.”

Scott said his time with Disney on Ice took him to 60 countries and 49 U.S. states.

“It’s on the list, but the only state I’ve missed is Hawaii,” he laughed. “I’m sure Hawaii will be great, but places like Fiji and the Philippines are amazing. My first tour was in Taiwan in Asia as a 24-year-old – no smartphones, no internet, etc. I was thrown into the mix of it – it was a bit of a cultural shock.”

Though she has no direct ties to Northeast Wisconsin, Gretchen said her dad was born in Milwaukee and attended Marquette University.

“My dad fell in love with a Minnesota girl and ended up in Minnesota raising a family there,” she said. “He always wanted to move back to this neck of the woods, but he never made it – but here I am. When we were first looking at properties, we looked at established bar businesses to buy. Scott didn’t want to lease – we wanted to buy.”

Gretchen said the quality of life and the lower cost of living within Northeast Wisconsin were also big draws for them.

“Things are changing all over with the cost of living, but it’s still quite good in this area compared to some of the other cities we were familiar with,” she said.

And since he has been a Green Bay Packers fan for at least a decade, Scott said the region held extra appeal.

“When a little three-year-old girl crawls up on the couch and says, ‘Who are the good guys, Daddy?’ and he says, ‘The ones in green and gold,’ she believes him,” Gretchen laughed.

Scott said they had also looked at a property in Green Bay before ultimately choosing the De Pere location.

“Our realtor really wanted us to take a look at this building, and I’m glad we did,” he said. “This location and everything about it is what we wanted – it’s perfect. It’s walkable for people, which is also important. There are so many nice things about De Pere, and the people are very neighborly. That’s what I’m used to where I grew up. It’s a strong community.”

Hours for Scotty Dog’s Pub are 3-10 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 3 p.m. to midnight Friday and noon to midnight Saturday.

For more on Scotty Dog’s Pub, visit its Facebook page.