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
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