The Villager: 49 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh

This is a cool bar full of ‘trendy’ festival goers (soon to be full of ‘trendy’ Edinburgh Uni students). There’s a good selection of pints at the bar including pints of Erdinger. I’m reliably informed that they also do good cocktails, and there are decent 2 for 1 food offers during the week.

If you get a table by the window you can people watch on George IV Bridge.

The Southsider: 3/5/7 West Richmond Street, Edinburgh

This bar grew on me during the time I was there on Saturday. There’s nothing particularly unique about it at first glance. It’s the sort of average cheap and cheerful pub that you could find anywhere in the UK. However, in some ways this is exactly what makes it unique in Edinburgh city centre. I got two drinks for around £6 and enjoyed my pint of Best. No doubt it is the cheap prices that attract the regular student element. There wasn’t any live music on the night I was there, but I have seen bands play here previously. They also seem to show a lot of live sport.

All in all, a good place to go for a cheap pint and catch up with your mates in the city centre.

The graph doesn't lie, students like a drink!

The Harp: 114-116 St Johns Road, Corstorphine, Edinburgh

This place used to be all about drinking and was a proper pub. These days it is all about the carvery. Indeed, I believe the pub has changed its name from ‘the Harp’ to ‘Toby Carvery Edinburgh West’.

If you go for the carvery, you’re likely to be happy with it, as it’s a fine meal for under £8.00. Going to the Harp just for pints though is a different story. It’s a bit like going to Pizza Express only for beer, and then feeling disappointed by the lack of pub atmosphere. Think of the Harp in the same way. They do drinks (in fact the Harp is still actually a pub) but their main focus is food.

I came to this conclusion one Saturday night recently, when some mates and I made just such a mistake and went to the Harp for pints. Sure, the Harp serves a reasonable pint of Best, but I could enjoy a ‘reasonable’ can of Best in my living room. If you think about the other reasons why you go to a pub; atmosphere, entertainment, people watching, the Harp delivers none of these things. They don’t even sell bar snacks. Clearly they think that by not selling a peckish drinker a bag of crisps, said drinker will then rush through to the carvery to buy an entire meal!  They seem to have forgotten though that salty snacks make people drink more beer which = profit.

There were only three other punters in the bar area, all men in their sixties. They looked as disappointed to be there as we were. Leaving the carvery part of the pub though were a group of satisfied looking customers who had clearly enjoyed their meal. So, not to ‘Harp’ on about it, but this place is all about the carvery!

Carvery - the clue's in the name people!