El Barrio: 119 Rose Street, Edinburgh

Sadly now Closed!

I used to like this club but now it just makes me furious!  Prior to the new management, it was free to get in, and the drinks, while not cheap, were reasonable. However these days it cost £5 to get in, regardless of what time you arrive, and the drinks prices have been whacked up to almost £4 a drink.   Their drink selection is horrendous, unless you like ridiculous cocktails, therefore I don’t know how they justify the entry fee. There used to be a girl going round with a bottle of spirits selling shots to random punters on the dance floor – gone, there also used to be a fireman’s pole – gone. I’m not saying I liked the fireman’s pole or ever danced round it, nor did I ever really buy shots from the said girl. All I’m saying is the new management have removed services/items and are now charging more. That seems a bit of a rip off! Let me tell you about my trip to the toilet which illustrates the rip off nature of this club. I washed my hands and tried to use the drier which it turns out wasn’t working. So the guy minding the toilets (and charging money for a spray of deodorant) gives me a paper tissue which looks no more than a bit of toilet roll and doesn’t fully dry my hands. Then he asks me for money for the tissue! Sheer rudeness!  I wanted to use the hand drier and instead had to make do with a bit of toilet tissue, and the toilet minder expects money!  I refused to give him money and suggested he got the drier fixed!

No Dyson airblades in this club!

The Blind Poet: 32 West Nicolson Street, Edinburgh

This pub covers all the bases giving you pretty much everything you would want from a student pub. Calling the blind poet a student pub is actually a bit of an insult as student bar makes me think of one of these hideous scream bars which require a yellow card for discount. However this is actually quite a decent bar with a traditional interior with interesting features such as a dart board and books and comfy if not slightly dilapidated leather couches. There’s a big projection screen for watching the football and I believe they have a pub quiz though I’ve not attended myself. Another novel feature is in the Gents toilet cubicle where you’ll find the walls papered with topless models from various men’s magazines. There are also blackboards for you to write comments on presumably to prevent you scribbling all over the walls.

The bar hosts a standard selection of beer, wine, and spirits including a few good malts. However what really sells this pub is the reasonable price of the drink. You can get a round of 2 drinks for just under £5 which is pretty good in Edinburgh these days. That’s the sort of prices I was paying when I was a student and that wasn’t yesterday.  However what I really like about this bar is rather than giving student discount and conning everyone else (e.g. scream bars) they pass the savings on to everyone!  

No yellow card required here!

Sneaky Peats: 73 Cowgate, Edinburgh

A picture doesn't do this place justice!

If you like drum and base (and let’s face it who does? well ok some people do), then this is the nightclub for you. Alternatively though if you hate drum and base but like cheap drink and attractive women give this venue a try. Sure you’ll have to endure the drum and base but with the price of the drink you won’t be sober for long. I should say this review if based on visits only on a Friday night. I believe on other nights there may be different music choices but I’ll let someone else write a review about that.

Rockin'!

The Links: 4 Alvanley Terrace, Edinburgh

Last time I went to this bar (which was a few years ago) it was a grubby student bar, and one side of it still is, full of loud students and big tellies to watch football. However not content to pin its fortunes to this market the bar has diversified and the other side of the pub is a more relaxed bar for food coffee and a quiet drink. This works well and it’s good to see a bar that is prepared to cater for a wide variety of customers. Still a good venue to watch the football.

Good for football on telly

Coming Soon

Look out for the following new reviews appearing here as of

1 June 2011;

·         The Blind Poet

·         The Links

·         Sneaky Pete’s

·         El Barrio

These are some fine and not so fine establishments and I look forward to reviewing them.

The Waverley, 3-5 St Mary's St, Edinburgh

This is a 1970s bar, and when I say Seventies bar, I don’t mean it’s a Seventies themed bar of the ilk of the Flares chain. No, I mean seventies as in they haven’t actually changed the décor in the bar since 1971!

When you walk in you are struck by the fact the bar needs a good renovation! There are paintings on the wall from historic battles in the nineteenth century and posters advertising shows in the Edinburgh Festival or music gigs. I quite fancied going to see a few of the shows advertised until I noticed the date on one of them was 1998!

At the bar you are spoilt for choice for beer – they serve either a Guinness or Tenants on tap. There were two very attractive young barmaids serving, one poured me a Guinness in a tankard glass, which I expected to be an appalling pint but actually tasted pretty good, which is just as well considering they weren’t giving the stuff away.

I went upstairs to meet some mates and found another bar upstairs shut off with a fire extinguisher lying on top of the bar. Both the downstairs and upstairs areas were busy with students and tourists. The toilets could also do with renovation considering it looked like someone had died in the cubicle in 1989. At the end of the night when the bar shut the elderly owner played God Save the Queen and seemed quite annoyed that most of the customers didn’t stand up for the anthem.

On paper the Waverley seems the worst business plan for a bar ever.  If someone went on Dragons Den with such a pitch the Dragons would all be saying ‘I’m out’. However the Waverley actually seems to work. The bar is packed at the weekend, the Guinness tastes good and it’s actually quite an entertaining bar!   

The Golf Tavern: 30-31 Wright’s Houses, Edinburgh

This is, as the name would suggest, good place to watch the golf on telly while having a few beers. Should you feel inspired to take up the sport, the bar will rent you some clubs and you can play pitch and putt on Bruntsfield Links outside the bar. Their pints of Amstel are exceptional and if you want food they do a 2 for 1 deal on a Thursday night. I ordered a burger which was good, though it arrived on a wooden chopping board - which was either them trying to be stylish or they had run out of plates! I was also entertained by the drunk student girls who seemed incapable of pushing the door to get to the toilets or walking up the stairs to get back to the bar area. Apparently the Golf also do a good quiz on a Monday night.

Anyone for Golf?

The Brauhaus: 105-107 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh

With a menu full of pages of beer from around the world, this place has a better selection of beer than a Tesco extra.

I liked the Swedish crocodile beer and have been reliably informed that the ‘God lager’ and ‘Bush’ are also good beers. One beer on the menu is priced at £210, so if you’re feeling a big spender, or stupidly drunk from the 12% (alcohol content) Bush, look for this beer on the menu.

This is a good place and open until 1 every night.  Sure it may be full of sweaty students, but their beer selection is unrivalled and the barman knows how to pour a foreign bottled beer, shaking and swivelling the bottle to make sure you get every last drop.