Edinburgh Pub Guide: Info

Welcome to the Edinburgh Pub Guide from Undiscovered Scotland. Here you will find information about, and photos of, 70 of Edinburgh City Centre's pubs. Navigation is via the clickable area maps, via the drop down menu showing all pubs in the guide, or via the shaking dice that appear on individual pub pages.

This is not a comprehensive guide to every drinking establishment in Edinburgh. There are three ways in which it is not comprehensive. First, it doesn't feature every pub in the areas included: just the large majority in which we feel visitors would feel at home, or at least be warmly welcomed. Second, it takes a fairly conservative view of the answer to the question: "What is a pub?" These days there is a strong crossover between pubs and clubs, restaurants, wine bars, bistros, and cafes, and some are all these things. This is a guide to what seem to us to be the most pub-like of Edinburgh's pubs.

And, third, it is not a comprehensive guide because it only covers the heart of Edinburgh's New Town and Old Town, divided into five manageable areas. This will (probably) change. We plan to include at least five more similarly-sized areas: the top of Leith Walk & Broughton Street; Leith; the northern New Town; Haymarket & the West End; and south of the Old Town. It is never likely to cover the whole of Edinburgh.

A few notes. No guide of this sort can ever be complete or completely up to date, even an Internet guide whose contents are regularly checked. If you know something we don't, but ought to, please let us know.

Visitor Information. The individual pub pages have a short "Visitor Information" section setting out address, phone number and, where we know of one, website and email address of the pub. This also carries information about "Awards" the pub has received. These include the following:

• Whether the pub features in the current year's Good Beer Guide published by the Campaign for Real Ale.
• Whether the pub is approved under the Cask Marque scheme.
• Whether the pub has received a Gold or Platinum award under the Beautiful Beer scheme.
• Whether the pub features in the current edition of Scotland the Best. A simple listing without a tick is an accolade in itself. One tick indicates the pub is considered to be among the very best in Scotland. Two ticks indicate that it is considered to be amongst the best of its type in the UK.

Real Ale. The media may have us believe that this is the age of the lager drinker, but the UK as a whole has never had so many small independent brewers as it has today: and Scotland, after a slow start in the 80s and 90s has pretty much caught up. This means that real ale is available in many of the pubs covered by this guide and three of the "Awards" noted above recognise this aspect in particular.

Pubs for visitors and tourists. The format of the Edinburgh Pub Guide from Undiscovered Scotland is intended to allow you to work out for yourself whether you are likely to enjoy a particular pub or not, using a combination of images and supporting information. Having said that, Edinburgh's pubs do vary from area to area, and also by time of day and day of the week. If you are looking to explore a variety of pubs, then it pays to remember that student pubs, and those in the Cowgate, can become very busy in the evenings and especially at weekends. Likewise the main "trails" of pubs in Edinburgh, along Rose Street, the Grassmarket and along the Royal Mile, can be very popular at busy times.

Overall, though, there is a very wide variety of pubs on offer in Edinburgh, with something to suit just about every possible taste. We hope that we have given you a taste of what is on offer.

Smoking. Since 26 March 2006 smoking in all enclosed public places in Scotland has been illegal. Many pubs make provision outside, either at the front or rear, for smokers.