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.

Espionage: 4 India Buildings, Victoria Street, Edinburgh

Also known as Sexpionage, this is the premier tourist nightspot, if not venue, in Edinburgh! Forget the Castle; you haven’t been to Edinburgh if you haven’t been to Sexpionage. Now I realise I’m giving it a good billing so far but it’s actually five floors of hell, and like hell it gets worse as you go down! Now fair enough it’s free to get in and before the likes of Ghillie Dhu it was one of the few places where you could drink in a bar like atmosphere if you rocked up after 1am.

The first floor is a bar, the second and third are also bars. However the fourth and fifth floors going down are horrendous, packed, sleazy, sweaty clubs. Espionage is not particularly good or cheap but as it’s free to get in I guess you get what you pay for! It also makes a handy shortcut from the top of Victoria Street to the Cowgate.



Forget the Castle - Espionage is the no. 1 tourist venue

Alexander Graham Bell: 128 George Street, Edinburgh

This is one of the high end Wetherspoon bars that feels slightly more like a bar than the Standing Order’s ‘Commonwealth Pool’ atmosphere. This used to be a trendy bar on George Street so it is a bit nicer than the Standing Order. Like the Standing Order though it’s generally packed. There are entertaining pictures of inventors and models of old fashioned telephones and typical cheap Wetherspoon prices. A good local or venue for after work drinks. Curry night on a Thursday is also a favourite.

A useful invention!

Ghillie Dhu: 2-6 Rutland Place, Edinburgh

I’m in two minds about this pub. As a bar it’s quite good. As a restaurant don’t even go there! We’ll start with the good though – the bar. The bar is well stocked with your normal selection of beers, including Belhaven Best, and an impressive selection of whiskies. It is quite an original Scottish bar with mood lighting, sleek furniture and a novel seating area where you can order beer from the bar directly from your table through a hatch in the wall. There are live bands at the weekend, however I think they could be advertised a bit better as you’re never really sure who’s who. Also it’s a bar that is open until 3am, and while there may be dancing in the upstairs level, you can still sit downstairs and drink if you want to avoid a night club.

Upstairs is a much larger hall which I believe can be hired out for events and where a ceilidh is held every Friday. This is good fun for the tourists and is something a bit different. Gents once you’ve had a few pints or whiskeys and need to drain the tank you can go to the toilet and piss in a bucket. I obviously can’t comment on the setup in the ladies but would be interested to hear if there’s also some sort of novelty toilet items.

Unfortunately the food is abominable. Now I’m a man that thinks going to Wetherspoon’s for a meal is fine dining so if I think the food is bad then it must be truly terrible! I once ordered Fish and Chips there and it was saltier than a German pretzel! I was so dehydrated I had to order a pint of water – a ridiculous experience!

Overall though, this type of Scottish bar is a welcome change from the normal boring traditional Scottish bars, of average wooden traditional décor, old men and a TV for entertainment if you’re lucky. Just avoid the food and you won’t be disappointed.

Not an actual photo of the food served here!