Pubs in Edinburgh you’d take back in a wee heartbeat..

[Morgan]

I know there are old pub threads on here and, in general, threads about Edinburgh pubs but...

 

If you could have one pub back, one that no longer exists, a favourite from years ago, which one would it be?

 

Mine, without a doubt, would be the Penthouse at Tollcross.

 

Yours? 

[Morgan]

11 minutes ago, jonesy said:

The Rainbow. 
 

Many happy memories from my late teens and early 20s. 

You never let me down, sir.  👍

[Savage Vince]

Carter's. 

[Morgan]

Just now, Savage Vince said:

Carter's. 

Where was that, Vince?

[Bull's-eye]

Robbo's. 

 

Great sing songs. 

[Jeffros Furios]

The Clock Inn 

[Morgan]

2 minutes ago, Jeffros Furios said:

The Clock Inn 

 

 

I’m never, ever going to argue with you, Jeff!

 

😄

 

 

[Morgan]

2 minutes ago, jonesy said:

Some good, if sporadic, memories of the supporters bus, too.

 

 

I knew a few Rainbow Hearts boys, probably before your time though.   

[Savage Vince]

10 minutes ago, Morgan said:

Where was that, Vince?

 

Morrison Street. Its still a boozer so maybe doesn't count. 

 

I'll go for The Caley Ale House if not. 

[Morgan]

6 minutes ago, Bull's-eye said:

Robbo's. 

 

Great sing songs. 

You’re some boy for the wind-ups, Oliver.  😆

[Morgan]

Just now, Savage Vince said:

 

Morrison Street. Its still a boozer so maybe doesn't count. 

 

I'll go for The Caley Ale House if not. 

The Caley was good, I’ll give you that.  👍

[Savage Vince]

7 minutes ago, Jeffros Furios said:

The Clock Inn 

 

The boy that ran that in the 90s was a radge. 😁

[Tazio]

The Penny Black 🤪

[Bluesy1874]

Another vote for the Rainbow, also had a few great nights in the Oak as well.

[Savage Vince]

2 minutes ago, jonesy said:

Good mix of punters in the ‘bow, from both up and down the hill.  

 

Times change  

 

I saw a pagger in there one night that was off-the-scale bonkers. 

 

That's not to suggest it wasn't a good pub though. 

Edited November 17, 2021 by Savage Vince

[Enzo Chiefo]

6 minutes ago, Savage Vince said:

 

The boy that ran that in the 90s was a radge. 😁

From a "notorious" family.

[Savage Vince]

2 minutes ago, Tazio said:

The Penny Black 🤪

 

I remember taking a lassie there one Thursday morning after a Wednesday night in town. Had a pizza and a few beers on Lothian Road then walked to the Penny Black. Saw a Rock Steady steward on the corner as we turned up the side street and assumed he had finished his shift and fancied a pint. 

 

Wrong. The queue at 4.50am was massive. 😁

[Morgan]

1 minute ago, Tazio said:

The Penny Black 🤪

If you knew Hilda and her daughter, you would know me, when I worked at that part of town.

 

I watched a Scotland v New Zealand WC game there, early one morning.   

[Tazio]

Just now, Morgan said:

If you knew Hilda and her daughter, you would know me, when I worked at that part of town.

 

I watched a Scotland v New Zealand WC game there, early one morning.   

It was an occasional treat, always a sign a good night had been had. You can’t beat sitting pished at 9am watching steaming posties doing karaoke. 

[Pap]

The Gay Gordons.

[maroondevo52]

The Ladyfield.

[Tazio]

The Lord Darnley was always a good spot for late night pool or bands. I remember being in there once when I was on the dole with a couple of similarly skint flat mates. We sat down having spent our last cash on 3 bottles of Newcastle Brown. One of the lads picked up a Marlboro pack that was left on the table hoping it might have a cigarette left in it. He looked inside and quickly told us to drink up ASAP so we could leave. We got outside and he announced there was an ounce of black hash in the pack. If you knew the Darnley that was when it was a big biker bar with some bad people frequenting it so we scuttled of as quick as we could as we reckoned the pack belonged to one of the rough *******s playing pool. We don’t dare go back for weeks. 

[superjack]

10 minutes ago, Savage Vince said:

 

I remember taking a lassie there one Thursday morning after a Wednesday night in town. Had a pizza and a few beers on Lothian Road then walked to the Penny Black. Saw a Rock Steady steward on the corner as we turned up the side street and assumed he had finished his shift and fancied a pint. 

 

Wrong. The queue at 4.50am was massive. 😁

The penny Black was always a better option then going straight for the taxi queue at that time in the morning, as was the spiders Web.

[superjack]

The weat end oyster bar. Was always a great night on Monday or Tuesday when Steve and Tom were playing, great blues act who later became the hot tamales.

[Tazio]

2 minutes ago, superjack said:

The weat end oyster bar. Was always a great night on Monday or Tuesday when Steve and Tom were playing, great blues act who later became the hot tamales.

Nah, St James Oyster Bar. Or Joe’s as it was known to some. One of the best jukeboxes in Edinburgh and a late licence. 

[superjack]

17 minutes ago, Tazio said:

Nah, St James Oyster Bar. Or Joe’s as it was known to some. One of the best jukeboxes in Edinburgh and a late licence. 

Done a couple of shifts in most of the oyster bars, mainly the west end. The juke box at the west end was also brilliant. We had the keys to it and used to put our own CDs in it. At 1 time it was probably the only pub in Edinburgh to have the macc lads available!

After new-year, all the pubs were closed and we were taken on a 2 day jolly. Free digs and food, with plenty of free drink as well. Last one I went on we stayed in a pub in Glenelg. Our accommodation was wherever we could sleep in the bar.

Edited November 17, 2021 by superjack
Usual, sp

[The White Cockade]

Bianco’s

is Bannernan’s or the Three Tuns still there?

[luckyBatistuta]

Lord Toms, don’t think I was ever in it and wasn’t completely out my box. Seen one of the scariest fights ever just over the road from it one night. A minibus pulled up full of women who all burst out onto the street fighting. They all had each other’s hair and were smashing them over the head with their high heels. There was blood all over the place and folk were wanting the doorman to go over and break it up. Big lads, but no way were they getting involved in that. Give me a fight with a big drunk bloke over a wee drunk woman all day long.

[Tazio]

16 minutes ago, luckyBatistuta said:

Lord Toms, don’t think I was ever in it and wasn’t completely out my box. Seen one of the scariest fights ever just over the road from it one night. A minibus pulled up full of women who all burst out onto the street fighting. They all had each other’s hair and were smashing them over the head with their high heels. There was blood all over the place and folk were wanting the doorman to go over and break it up. Big lads, but no way were they getting involved in that. Give me a fight with a big drunk bloke over a wee drunk woman all day long.

Back in the day it was called the Libyan embassy as so many Middle Eastern students drank there. 

[luckyBatistuta]

Way before my drinking days that Tazio

[FWJ]

Is Sneaky Pete’s still on the go?

 

I’d have that (and my 21 year-old self) please.

[Montgomery Brewster]

Rakes , styx, beau Brumel, George hotel social club 

Edited November 18, 2021 by Montgomery Brewster

[McGlynn The Money]

Mackay's Centre Spot

[Pap]

7 hours ago, The White Cockade said:

Bianco’s

is Bannernan’s or the Three Tuns still there?

 

Bannermans aye. Three Tuns, i think is a tarot reading place. It was a cosy wee bar from what i remember. I worked in the big clothes shop literally next door.

[jkbam]

Caley Ale House for me, the best pub at Haymarket and that had to be the one that got flattened.

[martoon]

Dizzy Lizzies.

 

Had my first pint in there, aged 16, in 1984. Liz, John and their daughter (Angela, iirc) were lovely, as were the locals. 

 

Rugs on the ceiling, once a week gogo night, snakebite/pink panthers...oh for one more mid 80s,  teenage night in Dizzies. 🍺🍻🍺🍻

[Doctor FinnBarr]

The Black Pig.

 

Managers bike engine getting pulled out the cellar to get worked on on quiet nights, bikes getting pushed inside at shutting as the owners had too many, someones winter hack being put up on a shelf during the summer (Fire Brigade had a fit about that when they discovered it had petrol and oil in it during an inspection).

[Tazio]

1 hour ago, martoon said:

Dizzy Lizzies.

 

Had my first pint in there, aged 16, in 1984. Liz, John and their daughter (Angela, iirc) were lovely, as were the locals. 

 

Rugs on the ceiling, once a week gogo night, snakebite/pink panthers...oh for one more mid 80s,  teenage night in Dizzies. 🍺🍻🍺🍻

I remember popping in there for a quiet pint and a read of the paper on a Saturday afternoon. It was nice and quiet and there were only about half a dozen people there. Imagine my surprise when the music got a bit louder and I looked up to see a middle aged woman in her underwear dancing in the corner. Hilariously as she was doing her routine her and the barmaid were chatting over the  bar about how their kids were getting on at school. 
It’s The Tourmalet now. Not a bad wee pub. 

[martoon]

3 minutes ago, Tazio said:

I remember popping in there for a quiet pint and a read of the paper on a Saturday afternoon. It was nice and quiet and there were only about half a dozen people there. Imagine my surprise when the music got a bit louder and I looked up to see a middle aged woman in her underwear dancing in the corner. Hilariously as she was doing her routine her and the barmaid were chatting over the  bar about how their kids were getting on at school. 
It’s The Tourmalet now. Not a bad wee pub. 

 

😄

 

Aye. There were some bizarre moments in my time, too.

 

Not been down that way for years now. A few pints in 1988 before heading to Hampden for a League Cup semi is the last time I recall being in Dizzies. I think it was revamped shortly after. 

[Pap]

1 hour ago, FinnBarr Saunders said:

The Black Pig.

 

Managers bike engine getting pulled out the cellar to get worked on on quiet nights, bikes getting pushed inside at shutting as the owners had too many, someones winter hack being put up on a shelf during the summer (Fire Brigade had a fit about that when they discovered it had petrol and oil in it during an inspection).

 

Played my first ever gig in there.

[Tazio]

Reading threads like these I’m always astonished how many pubs I seem to have been in during my lifetime. Of all sorts from absolute dives to overpriced city centre places. A life well spent. 

[JWL]

Olivers, in fact quite a few from Rose Street of the 1980's. The Gordon Arms across the road when John Fairgrieve used to drink there. Peppers in Thistle Street. The White Swan (ex Spiders Web) when Jimmy Fox had it, lock ins lasted all weekend.

[heartandsoul]

Rakes and Mr Mustards

[Ribble]

For me it would be Stones (can't quite remember if it was hannover or fredrick st that it was on) or the Jekyll and Hyde (know it's still a pub but any form of 'taproom' is a world away from the jeykll

[Spitonastranger]

Tap of Lauriston great pub with a great jukebox. 

[Boof]

Bentley's was the scene of many a post-match celebration for this former Bruntsfielder.

Cracking juke-box too.

[CostaJambo]

7 hours ago, Montgomery Brewster said:

Rakes , styx, beau Brumel, George hotel social club 

Was that entered from the wee street behind George Street? Longish narrow room with a pool table and then the bar behind it to the right?

[Montgomery Brewster]

14 minutes ago, CostaJambo said:

Was that entered from the wee street behind George Street? Longish narrow room with a pool table and then the bar behind it to the right?

Aye thistle street south east lane . Bar was a wee hatch type affair at the back. Great place and cheap as chips. 
 

we used to have races in the wee laundry baskets that the cleaners used on the way out. Literally stretchered out many a night .

[CostaJambo]

7 minutes ago, Montgomery Brewster said:

Aye thistle street south east lane . Bar was a wee hatch type affair at the back. Great place and cheap as chips. 
 

we used to have races in the wee laundry baskets that the cleaners used on the way out. Literally stretchered out many a night .

Sounds like the same place we used to go for a while, probably around the mid eighties. I think one of my mates who worked at Standard Life at the time found out about it, very cheap pints for the town. Only other thing I can remember about it was that every time we went in there was always a guy drinking in there who was a ringer for Martin Fry of ABC. 

[i8hibsh]

Robbos.