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