Edinburgh Pub Reviews

Dedicated followers of my old blog ‘Edinburgh Pub Reviews’ http://edinburghpubs.blogspot.com/ may have wondered what happened to this informative and witty pub review site. Well, it was created and administered by an IT savvy mate in New Zealand, but in in an attempt to learn the new-fangled blog technology myself, I’ve created this new blog. 

These are a few of my favourite reviews from the old blog; 

The Mitre: a harsh but fair review!

http://edinburghpubs.blogspot.com/2010/01/mitre-royal-mile.html

The Scotsman’s Lounge: ‘it has ‘taken many a good man down’

http://edinburghpubs.blogspot.com/2009/11/scotsmans-lounge-cockburn-street.html

Walkabout : ‘…which is to say not very authentic at all!’

http://edinburghpubs.blogspot.com/2009/11/walkabout-bar.html

Coming Soon

Watch this space for reviews of;

Ghillie Dhu

Alexander Graham Bell

Espionage

Maybury Casino: 1-5 S Maybury, Edinburgh

I really don’t understand what has happened to this place. I’m not a gambler, I’m a drinker, so I’ll let someone else review the poker tournaments, but a few years ago the Maybury Casino would be a safe bet for a decent night out in Corstorphine even if you weren’t gambling. You could expect the Maybury to provide; regular free buffet banquets, Andy Chung as the headline act at Chinese New Year, bottles of Tsingtao beer for £1 and the chance of winning an Alba telly in raffles! Now there seems to be less and less banquets and raffles, Tsingtao is no longer £1 and they have even replaced Belhaven Best with Tenant’s Special – a very poor bet indeed! A loyal patron of the Maybury told me he ordered a steak in the restaurant and it arrived with half of it missing. The waiter laughed and walked away. Las Vegas the Maybury aint!

Alba telly 1st prize in the raffle!

The Oxford Bar: 8 Young St, Edinburgh

Carlsberg don’t do pubs, but if they did it would probably be a hell of a lot better than this!

The name Oxford, which has brought us a prestigious university, the premier English language dictionary and a well-known street on the monopoly board, also brings you the most boring pub in the world!    

The Oxford Bar on Edinburgh’s Young Street has shot to fame by being the watering hole of Detective Inspector John Rebus of Ian Rankin’s detective novels. This is a typical no nonsense spit and sawdust pub full of real ale and old men. Bearing this in mind you would be forgiven for expecting pints to be cheap as chips. However you would be disappointed (as pints are priced at the average town price) and this is not the only thing that disappoints. Allow me to explain.

This place totally lives on its name with tourists pitching up at the bar expecting to see Ian Rankin and then are presumably shocked that A - he isn’t there, and B how dull the pub is. So dull in fact that I wouldn’t be surprised if this was where Rankin came up with the concept for his detective series as there is nothing else to do there.

There is a TV in the bar area which is normally glued to Sky Sports News, however the bar area is so small that you normally have to sit in the seating area behind the bar which also has a TV but I’ve never seen it on. The pints are average but as afore mentioned slightly expensive particularly as there is no entertainment, a terrible choice of stale pies as an excuse for food, and no women under the age of 40!

So to sum up if you want a few expensive pints in a place with no atmosphere in the company of dull old men then come on down. Personally I’d go along the road to the Cambridge where at least you get a decent burger.



This is Rebus's local - no wonder he always looks so miserable!

Bar Kohl: 54 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh

What I like to call bar cool. You’ve got to be cool if you’re drinking here. Expect lots of Edinburgh uni girls and maybe a few hairdressers! You can get some ridiculous shots here including Chilli Vodka. A good fun fake Russian/Soviet style bar, though expect plenty folk that are too cool for school!

Too cool for school?



Opium: 71 Cowgate, Edinburgh

I’m constantly surprised by how much I enjoy this bar. This is a proper rock bar and many of the people that go are of the Goth persuasion and many of the bar staff have tattoos. One of the bar staff affectionately known as ‘the alien’ has a tattoo on his shaved head. Anyway while this isn’t exactly my scene, the drink is ridiculously cheap – the majority of drinks won’t cost you more than £2! A house favourite is a John Daniels and Coke at a bargain basement price of £1.50. It’s also really easy to get served quickly at the bar, as while the Goths in front of you are pondering their depression, you can slip in front of them and order your drink! The music is also pretty decent with a good mixture of head banging teenage angst rock - think Rage Against the Machine and System of the Down to the classic rock of the Doors, Stones etc. Apart from the obvious but not overwhelming Goth/rocker presence there is also a large student contingent including quite a few hot student girls. The downstairs bar has a juke box – a nice touch in a pub culture where sadly the jukebox is vanishing! Upstairs you can mosh about to the rock music if you feel so inclined or you can admire the hot student girls - one of whom was dressed in a sexy Buffy the Vampire Slayer style outfit last time I was there! It’s free to get in, open until 3, the drinks are cheap, you can either drink downstairs or go upstairs and dance (if you’re into that sort of thing), and there’s student talent - what more do you want?

Better than I expected

Dirty Dicks: 159 Rose St, Edinburgh

A good bar where you can generally get a decent pint or a great selection of whisky, with interesting punters and décor. I particularly like the sawn in half golf clubs hanging from the roof - the golfing legend Big Jock would be furious! It’s great during the summer when you can sit outside. My only note of caution would be stay away from the real ale – it sometimes tastes off.

Summer is thirsty work!

Jekyll and Hyde: 112 Hanover Street, Edinburgh

I prefered the book

I enjoyed the book of the same name far more than I’ve enjoyed this bar. I initially believed this bar was cheap however every time I’ve been it is expensive. Also the service at the bar is terrible - if you’re not a student or rock fan don’t expect to get served. One of my visits coincided with some sort of fetish night in a reserved area downstairs - I was wondering why girls dressed as schoolgirls and in PVC were all going downstairs! All very well - but not so good when weirdos dressed as gimps turn up! The food is really cheap and a steak pie costs about as much as a pint – though don’t expect a leafy salad or even chips. Also the toilets behind the fake bookcase, this just confuses me when I’m drunk.