Entertainment in Scotland
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Café Royal Circle Bar
Perhaps the classic Edinburgh bar, the Cafe Royal’s main claims to fame are its magnificent oval bar and the series of Doulton tile portraits of famous Victorian inventors. Check out the bottles on the gantry – staff line them up to look like there’s a mirror there, and many a drink-befuddled customer has been seen squinting and wondering why he can’t see his reflection.
reviewed
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Wee Red Bar
The Wee Red Bar has been around so long there’s a danger the authorities will slap a blue plaque on it and declare it a national monument. Wee, red and frequented, hardly surprisingly, by lots of art students, it’s famous for the Egg, a weekly smorgasbord of classic punk, ska, northern soul, indie etc that is still one of the best club nights in the city.
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Brauhaus
The bar itself is fairly small – half a dozen bar stools, a couple of sofas and a scattering of seats – but the ambition is sizeable, with a vast menu of bottled beers from all over the world, ranging from the usual suspects from Belgium, Germany and the Czech Republic, to more unusual brews such as Paradox Smokehead (a 10% ABV stout aged for six months in a whisky cask).
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Abbotsford
One of the few pubs in Rose St that has retained its Edwardian splendour, the Abbotsford has long been a hang-out for writers, actors, journalists and media people, and has many loyal regulars. Dating from 1902, and named after Sir Walter Scott’s country house, the pub’s centrepiece is a splendid mahogany island bar. Good selection of Scottish and English real ales.
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Cumberland Bar
Immortalised as the stereotypical New Town pub in Alexander McCall Smith's serialised novel 44 Scotland Street, the Cumberland has an authentic, traditional wood-brass-and-mirrors look (despite being relatively new) and serves well-looked-after, cask-conditioned ales and a wide range of malt whiskies. There's also a pleasant little beer garden outside.
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Oban Inn
The lively Oban Inn, overlooking the harbour by North Pier, is the best pub in town. It’s a traditional bar with wood panelling, brass rails and stained glass, and has real ales, a wide range of single malt whiskies and good bar food (£7) – the moules frites (mussels and chips) are a local favourite. Food is served from noon to 8.30pm.
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Helgi’s
There’s a traditional cosiness about this place, but the decor has moved beyond the time-honoured beer-soaked carpet to a comfortable contemporary slate floor and quotes from the Orkneyinga Saga plastering the walls. It’s more find-a-table than jostle-at-the-bar and serves cheerful, well-priced comfort food (mains £7 to £10). Take your pint upstairs for quiet harbour contemplation.
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White Hart Inn
A brass plaque outside this pub proclaims: ‘In the White Hart Inn Robert Burns stayed during his last visit to Edinburgh, 1791.’ Claiming to be the city’s oldest pub in continuous use (since 1516), it also hosted William Wordsworth in 1803. Not surprisingly, it’s a traditional, cosy, low-raftered place. It has folk/acoustic music sessions seven nights a week.
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Basement
The Basement is a laid-back and pleasantly grungy bar – check out the weird, welded furniture made from tank-tracks, camshafts and motorcycle chains – with staff decked out in Hawaiian shirts that are almost as loud as the decor. Background tunes are upbeat but not intrusive and, if you get peckish, excellent Mediterranean and Mexican munchies are available.
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Portcullis
Built in stone as solid as the castle that it stands below, this former school is just the spot for a pint and a pub lunch after your visit. With bar meals that would have had even William Wallace loosening his belt a couple of notches, a little beer garden, and a cosy buzz indoors, it’s well worth a visit; there are also rooms here (single/double £67/87).
reviewed
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Athletic Arms (the Diggers)
Named for the cemetery across the street (the grave-diggers used to nip in and slake their thirst after a hard day’s interring), the Diggers dates from 1897. Its heyday as a real-ale drinker’s mecca has passed, but the beer is still good, the decor has barely changed in 100 years, and it’s packed to the gills with football and rugby fans on match days.
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Auld Hoose
Promoting itself as the Southside’s only ‘alternative’ pub, the Auld Hoose certainly lives up to its reputation with unpretentious, old-fashioned decor, a range of real ales from remote Scottish microbreweries (Trashy Blonde from Brewdog on Arran, Avalanche Ale from Loch Fyne in Argyll), and a juke box that would make the late John Peel weep with joy.
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Assembly Bar
Assembly originally opened in 1996 (as Iguana), making it positively prehistoric for a style bar, but a combination of timeless decor, cool sounds, big sofas and good-value food has kept it popular. There’s a relaxed crowd of mostly students topping up on coffee during the day, but the atmosphere heats up as pre-clubbers pour in during the evening.
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Bongo Club
The weird and wonderful Bongo Club boasts a long history of hosting everything from wild club nights to performance art to kids' comedy shows, and is open as a cafe and exhibition space during the day. May shift to new premises in 2013 – check website for latest news.
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Nice 'n' Sleazy
On the rowdy Sauchiehall strip, students from the nearby School of Art make the buzz here reliably friendly. If you're over 35 you'll feel like a professor not a punter, but retro decor, a big selection of tap and bottled beers, 3am closing, and nightly alternative live music downstairs followed by a club at weekends make this a winner. There's also popular, cheap Tex-Mex food (dishes £5 to £7).
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Dragonfly
A super-stylish lounge bar with a Raffles of Singapore vibe – it’s all crystal chandeliers, polished wood and oriental art – Dragonfly has won rave reviews both for its innovative cocktails and its designer decor. Grab a seat in the neat little mezzanine, from where you can look down on the bar as the Singapore Slings are being slung.
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Horse Shoe
This legendary city pub and popular meeting place dates from the late 19th century and is largely unchanged. It's a picturesque spot, with the longest continuous bar in the UK, but its main attraction is what's served over it – real ale and good cheer. Upstairs in the lounge is some of the best value pub food (3-course lunch £4.25) in town.
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Kenilworth
A gorgeous, Edwardian drinking palace, complete with original fittings – from the tile floors, mahogany circle bar and gantry, to the ornate mirrors and gas lamps – the Kenilworth was Edinburgh's original gay bar back in the 1970s. Today it attracts a mixed crowd of all ages, and serves a good range of real ales and malt whiskies.
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Waxy O’connors
If you’ve been trying to avoid those acid flashbacks, steer clear of Waxy O’Connors. This labyrinthine maze of six bars on three levels (you may not emerge for days), including the inspiringly named Murphy’s Bar, is an Escher drawing brought to life. Sadly, it’s also an Irish-themed bar, but even that doesn’t ruin the surreal fun.
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Opal Lounge
The Opal Lounge is jammed at weekends with affluent 20-somethings who've spent £200 and two hours in front of a mirror to achieve that artlessly scruffy look. During the week, when the air-kissing crowds thin out, it's a good place to relax with an expensive but expertly mixed cocktail. Expect to queue on weekend evenings.
reviewed
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Villager
A cross between a traditional pub and a pre-club bar, Villager has a comfortable, laid-back vibe. It can be standing-room only in the main bar in the evenings (the cocktails are excellent), but the side room, with its brown leather sofas and subtropical pot plants, comes into its own for a lazy Sunday afternoon with the papers.
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Globe Inn
A traditional, rickety old nook-and-cranny pub down a narrow wynd off the main pedestrian drag, this was reputedly Burns' favourite watering hole, and scene of one of his numerous seductions. It's got a great atmosphere at weekends, created by its welcoming locals and staff as much as the numerous pictures of the 'ploughman poet' himself.
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Arches
A one-stop culture/entertainment fix, Arches doubles as a theatre showing contemporary, avant-garde productions and there's also a club. The hotel-like entrance belies the deep interior, which make you feel as though you've discovered Hades' bohemian underworld. The crowd is mixed – hiking boots are as welcome as Versace.
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Brel
Perhaps the best on Ashton Lane, this bar can seem tightly packed, but there's a conservatory out the back so you can pretend you're sitting outside when it's raining, and when the sun does peek through there's a beer garden. They've got a huge range of Belgian beers, and they also do mussels and other Lowlands favourites.
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Corinthian
A breathtaking domed ceiling and majestic chandeliers make Corinthian an awesome venue. Originally a bank and later Glasgow's High Court, this regal building's main bar has to be seen to be believed. Cosy wraparound seating and space to spare are complemented by a snug wine bar and a plush club downstairs in old court cells.
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