Our some time companion (and noted chunderer) Adam Johns spends some of his evenings working in licensed premises somewhere up the Bridges. Given the state of affairs last time we left you., we devised a simple plan; meet somewhere central for a pint, take in Adam’s place of work (and wind him up a bit) and then drag him out for a few pints. What could possible go wrong?
Logie Baird’s Bar (The Bank Hotel, corner of South Bridge and High Street, 3/5/7/8/14/29/30/31/33/35/37/47/49) is a funny one, particularly as far as the clientele are concerned. You get a few students watching sport whilst enjoying the use of discount cards (note: their Setanta reception was crap when last tried), a few tourists who’ve stumbled in off the Royal Mile, and a few folk who seem to just be jakes who’ve managed to find themselves on the wrong side of South Bridge from Hunter Square. Other than that, it’s got a big central bar, some nice upstairs seats and does passable grub.
We necked our pints of Best and shuffled off to annoy Adam, who had informed us that he was working until ten. There was only one problem, however – he wasn’t there. “He might be working at [other licensed premises in Tollcross] tonight, he ain’t on the rota pal”, we were informed and so we trekked off across the city. After all, it was still only quarter past nine, and we could get a couple in before he joined us. However, the staff in this other place told us that the bar wasn’t open that night. Strange.
The Stage Door (Home Street, 10/11/15/16/17/23/27/45) is, as the name would suggest, across the road from the King’s Theatre. It was fairly deserted when we went in, but it’s got what looks like a fairly decent wee function room downstairs. Inside it’s all long tables and comfortable chairs, but it was nice enough.
Just further up the road towards Bruntsfield is Bennett's (Leven Street, 11/15/16/17/23/45),a classy old style pub with maps on the tables (these provided plenty of entertainment, needless to say), and a load of good ales and malts. The pints were excellent in here, and I’d highly recommend that people pay a visit.
After this we trekked back down to the King’s Arms (Home Street, 10/11/15/16/17/23/27/45) which is most definitely a “local” boozer – somebody’s dug was wandering around the place, there was a free spread on the bar and the open fire was going in the corner. We didn’t meet too many of the locals but it seemed a pretty welcoming place. Unfortunately, there was also a smell in the air which indicated that one of the locals had soiled themselves.
By this point, Adam still hadn’t appeared, even after both Nick and myself had spent a lot of time on the phone providing a reminder as to why he should come out, irrespective of any extenuating circumstances. Regardless of his absence, we headed to Cloisters (Melville Drive, 24) around the corner. Now we’ve been to good pubs, bad pubs and painfully boring pubs, and I’m glad to say that Cloister’s falls into the first category. It gives the impression of being quite compact inside, but that may just be as a result of the fact that it is seemingly always busy with a good mix of students, professionals and locals. The atmosphere is buzzing, there’s a great choice of drinks (when we visited, they even had Black Isle Blonde on tap) and if you’re stuck for entertainment, you can sit beside the spiral staircase and watch folk fall on their way to and from the toilets. Priceless. It was time for a chippy and to head home.
Until the next time…
QUOTE OF THE NEXT MORNING: “Haha I can’t believe you guys, I had 15 voicemails all calling me gay” – Adam “Sicknote” Johns
CUMULATIVE PUB COUNT: 37
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