Bond No 9: 84 Commercial Street, Leith, Edinburgh

The ‘Shore’ area of Leith has an unexpected amount of decent bars and this is one of them. It’s a dark, trendy, atmospheric bar were young folk come to presumably start their weekend night out before going into town. On Saturday night there is a DJ who mixes together '80s tunes for some lively but not intrusive background music. Overall this is a good bar which is lively and full of attractive women, but where you can also have a quiet beer and conversation. This bar doesn’t come cheap though as a single measure of Laphroaig whisky was almost £4!

They don't give it away!

Whistlebinkies: 4-6 South Bridge, Edinburgh

Binkies sells itself as being the main bar for live music in Edinburgh, offering live music every night. This is great as Edinburgh which could certainly do with more live music venues. It can be hit or miss though depending on the band. I saw a great blues band here a few months ago, however I’ve also seen some fairly generic bands who play nothing but cheesy cover songs (of the ilk you would get at Finnegan's Wake or many of the bars in the Royal Mile on a Friday/Saturday night). At the weekend make sure you get there before midnight, as after that they start charging a £4 entry fee! Also you may want to take a pair of ear plugs if you’re sitting/standing next to the band as some bands crank the volume up to 11 (if you’ve seen the film Spinal Tap you’ll appreciate that reference!).  The beer is enjoyable and they have a reasonable range of beers on tap and in bottles and I enjoyed the pint of Guinness I ordered, which was just as well as it cost me £3.75! As with many venues in Edinburgh you’re never far from a Stag or Hen night and Binkies is no exception with a Stag party making a general nuisance of themselves on the dance floor!

All in all it’s a good night out at Binkies which offers; lively entertainment, attractive barmaids and a decent selection of beer.

Treacle: 39-41 Broughton Street, Edinburgh

Though the most unique thing about this bar is its name, this is actually not a bad bar. This is a mildly trendy young person’s bar with staff, furniture and price to match. It’s comfortable, with poufs to sit on and additional seating on the window ledge. The booze is fairly generic (and they have a limited choice of cider) but I got a nice pint of Guinness. There are also various spirits, ingredients for cocktails and bottles of pink liquid, maybe Rose wine maybe something else. The bar staff seemed relatively helpful (I guess a unique thing in Edinburgh!). Though the name of this bar makes me think of syrup, or a cat, I’d be happy to go back to this bar. 

Treacle the cat

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