A Pint of Best

Move over Belhaven?

What's the deal with pints of Best these days? I've noticed recently in quite a few bars such as the Murrayfield Hotel and Ghillie Dhu have substituted Belhaven Best with Caledonia Best.

To be honest it tastes pretty similar though it still costs the same for a pint. Maybe it's cheaper by the keg than Belhaven.

It's such a phenomenon it's even made the Scotsman newspaper.

The Cumberland Bar: 15/3 Cumberland Street Edinburgh

Set in the quiet streets of the New Town, this is a great old fashioned bar. It boasts lots of oak wood, alcoves, booths, and old advertising handing from the walls. The beer is fairly decent as well with lots of real ales on hand pull.  

I didn’t think much of the food, the battered haddock was a bit dry for my taste but the beer and atmosphere was enjoyable and the staff were helpful and friendly.

The Cumberland Bar is a great venue in summer as it has a beer garden that can rival the Pear Tree.

The Citrus Club: 40-42 Grindlay Street Edinburgh

Friday night is 80s night at the citrus club. No it’s not a geriatric night but a night celebrating generally rock/pop music from the 1980s.

It costs £6 to get in but you get a free Curly Wurly and the drinks pretty cheap. Bottles of Fosters are £1.50 and you can get some horrendous apple sours for £1. Within a few drinks you’ve pretty much entry fee back.

I’m not sure if they change the drinks promotions so my advice is ask. Also the DJ can be inclined to play some fairly rubbish tracks so make some requests to ensure he doesn’t!

Free with admission

Mr Modos: 133-135 Lothian Road, Edinburgh

If you are looking for cheap drink and own a SNAPfax this is the ideal place to go. Pints of Best are £1.75 as are pints of Carlsberg. There is a blackboard of drinks deals worth consulting. Apparently it does good cocktails too though I can’t say I tried them myself.

Mr Modos is a classic rock bar, which is a nice change to the pop/dance music you hear in many bars. On Friday nights it seems to be packed with young students (presumably there for the cheap drink) but I’ve been there on Saturday night when it has been relatively quiet and I was easily able to get a seat.

Being a classic rock bar, the bar is full of pictures of rock greats of the past, which are good for stimulating conversation. If you can’t be bothered talking they seem to have some board games available such as Connect 4.

This bar does have some peculiarities though. For some reason the seating area down the stairs often has a sign saying it’s reserved, though it’s always empty, so I’m not sure what that is about. Maybe they are expecting the Rolling Stones to show up and need a place to sit? Also there was a barman wearing a hat that seemed pretty pissed off to be working there and was generally unhelpful, my advice - avoid him. The other bar staff were great though.

Overall I’d say they have a winning combination with cheap drink and classic rock.