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!
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