Saturday, 27 October 2007
Statement of Apology
The Management would like to issue a statement of apology regarding a comment made in the blog entry "The Second Month Begins". It turns out that Clachnacuddin did not win their Scottish Cup match, rather Edinburgh City were the victors, winning by a single goal. We were sober at the time and realise that we must have looked like a right pair of halfwits throughout the game.
Friday, 26 October 2007
Further Adventures on Leith Walk
The Theatre Royal (Greenside Place, 1/4/5/7/10/11/12/14/15/16/19/22/25/26/34/44/45/49) was our next stop on the Pub Challenge, accompanied by regular visitor – and my coursemate from uni – Joe Boyd. A deceptively large pub, the Theatre Royal is extremely spacious with a central “island” style bar. As it was a Friday night, there was a certain convivial buzz about the place (or was that just the drink?) and we stayed on for a few, before deciding it was a good idea to go for a curry…
Those of you who haven’t been living under a rock will know that this was around the time that Scotland were playing their next lot of international fixtures and so, accompanied by now-pub-challenge-regular Ian Davidson, we returned to Robbie’s on Leith Walk for each game; the fabulous victory against Ukraine (yes!) and the not-so-fabulous capitulation to Georgia (in my opinion, this was simply as a direct result of Al Wallace not putting in an appearance for the first time since the France game – I hope you’re reading this Al). Now where was I? Oh yes, to drown our sorrows after the Georgia game we moved across the road to the Horseshoe Bar (Leith Walk, 7/10/12/14/16/22/25/49) which, as the name would suggest, has a horseshoe shaped bar. We drank our pints then left to go to the…
City Limits (Leith Walk, 7/10/11/12/14/16/22/25/49). The City Limits is an interesting pub, as back in the day (when it was known as the Boundary Bar) it used to mark the boundary between Edinburgh and Leith. As each town – as was – had separate licensing laws, the pub operated two regimes. When last orders had been called for Leith drinkers they could simply cross into Edinburgh, where they could enjoy an extra half hour of service. More on this pub – and the “mindless violence” which was the name change – can be found in this article. As we felt it only appropriate, we had a drink on either side of the boundary. Myself and Ian then felt it a good idea to crack open some whisky; Nick, on the other hand thought it a good idea to fall asleep on the 12 home and wake up coincidentally outside the Roseburn Bar… Hangovers all round the next day.
Until the next time…
CUMULATIVE PUB COUNT: 19
Those of you who haven’t been living under a rock will know that this was around the time that Scotland were playing their next lot of international fixtures and so, accompanied by now-pub-challenge-regular Ian Davidson, we returned to Robbie’s on Leith Walk for each game; the fabulous victory against Ukraine (yes!) and the not-so-fabulous capitulation to Georgia (in my opinion, this was simply as a direct result of Al Wallace not putting in an appearance for the first time since the France game – I hope you’re reading this Al). Now where was I? Oh yes, to drown our sorrows after the Georgia game we moved across the road to the Horseshoe Bar (Leith Walk, 7/10/12/14/16/22/25/49) which, as the name would suggest, has a horseshoe shaped bar. We drank our pints then left to go to the…
City Limits (Leith Walk, 7/10/11/12/14/16/22/25/49). The City Limits is an interesting pub, as back in the day (when it was known as the Boundary Bar) it used to mark the boundary between Edinburgh and Leith. As each town – as was – had separate licensing laws, the pub operated two regimes. When last orders had been called for Leith drinkers they could simply cross into Edinburgh, where they could enjoy an extra half hour of service. More on this pub – and the “mindless violence” which was the name change – can be found in this article. As we felt it only appropriate, we had a drink on either side of the boundary. Myself and Ian then felt it a good idea to crack open some whisky; Nick, on the other hand thought it a good idea to fall asleep on the 12 home and wake up coincidentally outside the Roseburn Bar… Hangovers all round the next day.
Until the next time…
CUMULATIVE PUB COUNT: 19
Monday, 22 October 2007
The Ardmillan Hotel
The Ardmillan Hotel (Ardmillan Terrace, 4/44) is probably best described as Nick Chadha’s local - and as such requires an entire article of its own. Situated in no man’s land between Gorgie and Dalry, this public bar attached to a hotel attracts a regular clientele (of more than Mr Chadha) and is yet welcoming to all; it is traditional yet is always lively; the outside tables are brilliant during the summer yet during the winter it’s always cosy inside; and it does a bloody good pint of Best.
For the purposes of The Great Edinburgh Pub Challenge, our visit was made on Wednesday October 10th, before (and after, incidentally) seeing Ian Brown at the Corn Exchange. Sadly none of the more entertaining semi-resident local characters (with the exception of Nick) was present, so we (and the younger Chadha brother, Michael), escaped without too many stories to tell on this occasion.
A further notable point about the Ardmillan Hotel is the quality of its food; it is always top notch, and I can especially recommend the Sunday roasts.
Highly recommended to all.
For the purposes of The Great Edinburgh Pub Challenge, our visit was made on Wednesday October 10th, before (and after, incidentally) seeing Ian Brown at the Corn Exchange. Sadly none of the more entertaining semi-resident local characters (with the exception of Nick) was present, so we (and the younger Chadha brother, Michael), escaped without too many stories to tell on this occasion.
A further notable point about the Ardmillan Hotel is the quality of its food; it is always top notch, and I can especially recommend the Sunday roasts.
Highly recommended to all.
Tuesday, 9 October 2007
The Second Month Beings
And so it came to pass that the Great Edinburgh Pub Challenge reached the end of its first month, and entered into a new chapter (i.e. its second month). September 28th saw us head to Caley Sample Rooms (Angle Park Terrace, 34/35) with, amongst others, wor pals Gordon Russell and Jenni Core, who were having a few bevvies prior to jetting off to Bermuda to get married, so congratulations to them. Greig "Bongo" Bingham and his pal Steptoe (who was in a rather loquacious state having just got off the rigs) were also in attendance. The Sample Rooms is a decent boozer, huge range of beers, wines and whiskies so you can never go wrong, and it's always pretty lively. A couple of years back it was quite rough around the edges but it's been done up since then and is now pretty smart inside, almost a bit too clincal some might say. You could take a burd there anyway.
After a couple of pints we headed off to Bert's Bar on William Street, which sadly is ineligible for the Challenge due to its location, but it's a top place. It was a Friday evening so it was buzzing with west-end-city-professional-types and we all packed ourselves into a corner and got merry. I highly recommend going - apparently the pies are good at lunch as well.
The next night saw Tiles (St Andrew Square, 4/8/10/11/12/15/16/17/26/44/45) taken in, couple of pints of Guinness did the trick. Tiles is a wee bit less pretentious than many of the other new town pubs, and they usually play cracking tunes which is always a bonus.
And there ended our activity for the first month, with double figures having been achieved.
October started slowly - the first pub visit wasn't until the 6th, after Clachnacuddin had achieved a famous victory over Edinburgh City out at Meadowbank in the Scottish Cup (sorry, I'm letting my Invernesian roots show here, but you can't change your team). To celebrate their progress to the next round (East Stirling at home, by the way) myself and Mr Chadha had a few bevvies out that end of town. First up was the Station Bar (Cadzow Place, 4/5/15/19/26/34/44/45) which I quite liked. Obviously it takes its name from being located above one of the many disused stations on Edinburgh's myriad of (now closed) suburban railway lines. Inside it was a typical old man boozer, formica tables, folk clinging to their glass like it would be their last ever pint, you get the drift. All good with me.
From there, a trip was made across the road to the Artisan (London Road, 4/5/15/19/26/34/44/45), which is fairly similar in terms of clientele but also has a carpet. By this time, Nick's sore heid from the night before was beginning to wear off , so I managed to convince him to go round the corner to Middleton's (Easter Road, 1/35) which has traditionally been the "away" pub for Hibs matches. Hibs, however, were busy beating Rangers at Ibrox on the day so it wasn't too busy. Other than that there wasn't much to be said for it.
The night's activity was rounded off with a brief stop at the Boda (Leith Walk, 7,10,12,14,16,22,25,49) for a quick beer. It seemed a fairly metrosexual kind of place, silly cushions, friendly bar staff, decent tasting lager - none of the things which immediately spring to mind when imagining a boozer in Leith!
The following night, we convened with half of Shetland (ok, 3 of them - and only two were related, before you ask) in the Playfair (Omni Centre, Greenside Place/Leith Street, 1/5/7/14/19/22/25/34/49) for a couple of pints, it's generic Wetherspoons/Lloyds bollocks, but it serves a purpose I s'pose.
We've set up an e-mail address for this whole carry on, so if you want to ask any questions/give abuse/send in photos or your own anecdotes please contact us at edinburghpubchallenge@yahoo.nospam.co.uk
Until the next time...
CUMULATIVE PUB COUNT: 15
After a couple of pints we headed off to Bert's Bar on William Street, which sadly is ineligible for the Challenge due to its location, but it's a top place. It was a Friday evening so it was buzzing with west-end-city-professional-types and we all packed ourselves into a corner and got merry. I highly recommend going - apparently the pies are good at lunch as well.
The next night saw Tiles (St Andrew Square, 4/8/10/11/12/15/16/17/26/44/45) taken in, couple of pints of Guinness did the trick. Tiles is a wee bit less pretentious than many of the other new town pubs, and they usually play cracking tunes which is always a bonus.
And there ended our activity for the first month, with double figures having been achieved.
October started slowly - the first pub visit wasn't until the 6th, after Clachnacuddin had achieved a famous victory over Edinburgh City out at Meadowbank in the Scottish Cup (sorry, I'm letting my Invernesian roots show here, but you can't change your team). To celebrate their progress to the next round (East Stirling at home, by the way) myself and Mr Chadha had a few bevvies out that end of town. First up was the Station Bar (Cadzow Place, 4/5/15/19/26/34/44/45) which I quite liked. Obviously it takes its name from being located above one of the many disused stations on Edinburgh's myriad of (now closed) suburban railway lines. Inside it was a typical old man boozer, formica tables, folk clinging to their glass like it would be their last ever pint, you get the drift. All good with me.
From there, a trip was made across the road to the Artisan (London Road, 4/5/15/19/26/34/44/45), which is fairly similar in terms of clientele but also has a carpet. By this time, Nick's sore heid from the night before was beginning to wear off , so I managed to convince him to go round the corner to Middleton's (Easter Road, 1/35) which has traditionally been the "away" pub for Hibs matches. Hibs, however, were busy beating Rangers at Ibrox on the day so it wasn't too busy. Other than that there wasn't much to be said for it.
The night's activity was rounded off with a brief stop at the Boda (Leith Walk, 7,10,12,14,16,22,25,49) for a quick beer. It seemed a fairly metrosexual kind of place, silly cushions, friendly bar staff, decent tasting lager - none of the things which immediately spring to mind when imagining a boozer in Leith!
The following night, we convened with half of Shetland (ok, 3 of them - and only two were related, before you ask) in the Playfair (Omni Centre, Greenside Place/Leith Street, 1/5/7/14/19/22/25/34/49) for a couple of pints, it's generic Wetherspoons/Lloyds bollocks, but it serves a purpose I s'pose.
We've set up an e-mail address for this whole carry on, so if you want to ask any questions/give abuse/send in photos or your own anecdotes please contact us at edinburghpubchallenge@yahoo.nospam.co.uk
Until the next time...
CUMULATIVE PUB COUNT: 15
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