At Jury's, G1.

MattyJ wrote:

regmcfly wrote:

Matt - you staying in city centre of Edinburgh? When I get home I'll put together a whack of ideas, but prime culprit has to be The Hanging Bat

Staying at Double Tree Hilton, EH3. Thanks dude.

Rightso, you are on Bread St. That's the West End of the city. Basic logic in Edinburgh is that there's one main street (Princes St) that links the West End / Lothian Road (where you are) to the East End / Leith Walk. It's about 1.5 miles to walk the whole length, and that's about it. Behind Princes St, running parallel to it, is Rose St, which is famous for having more bars per square mile than any other place in the world, I think. It's always pretty chilled and laid back, although most of the pubs are of the generic variety - not chains, necessarily, but just pubs.

I'm going to keep this focused to where you are, as you're actually in one of the best spots. Aside from Leith Walk, Lothian Road is probably the most interesting place in Edinburgh at the minute. You're about a minute around the corner from it, between that and the Grassmarket (where you go to get rekt and where the 3 strip clubs are, all called, lovingly 'the pubic triangle'.) 

So, Lothian Road is basically undergoing mass and massive changes. Even from when I moved to Edinburgh from Glasgow in 2008, the place is almost unrecognisable. Firstly, it hosts two cracking cinemas - The Filmhouse and (my favourite) The Cameo - both are more indie type cinemas. 

For food and drink here's a few. I realise you've only got a night, so I'll keep the list down somewhat. 

My overall pick would be, as mentioned, The Hanging Bat, on Lothian Road, and about a two minute walk from where you are staying. They're an independent pub with about 20-30 cask/keg beers on which changes every day. They're very reasonable - they don't do pints tho, just 2/3s, but you're talking between £2-4 for most of them, and you're going to get stuff you're never going to get anywhere else. In addition, they have their own smokehouse at the back, and do incredible pulled pork, ribs, slaw, real dirty pub food and most of that never crosses the £10 mark. And it'll feed you good like. So that's the top pick.Also notable for the fact that my wife says it's the one pub she's happy to sit in on her own - which says a lot about the atmosphere. 
http://www.thehangingbat.com/

Next you've got The Beer Kitchen, also on Lothian Road, and only a few doors down from The Hanging Bat. It started as a pop-up and is now a permanent establishment. It's run by the Innis and Gunn brewing co. an Edinburgh brewers who make some potent beers. It's a couple of pounds more expensive per item, but they do pints, and they have a proper food menu. I had pork cheek last time I was in and was in fucking paradise. It's also recommended. Interestingly enough, the place they took over used to be a strip club cum 'massage parlour'. Mrs. Reg also a fan. 
http://thebeerkitchen.co.uk/

Next you've got (STILL on Lothian Road) The Red Squirrel, which is a bit more of an off-kilter bar, with lino type floors. The food is good there too - they're known for their burgers, and they mostly do more famous beers, but do still have some good stuff. One thing I would stress you try is Williams Brothers beers - they're my favourite brewery, and are based in Alloa. Red Squirrel does several of theirs (Hanging Bat sometimes has their more experimental flavours.) Red Squirrel can get packed on a weekend when the office crowd come out though. 
http://www.redsquirreledinburgh.co.uk/

More food-based, there's a Bread Meats Bread opened in Edinburgh, AGAIN ON FUCKING LOTHIAN ROAD DO YOU GET IT YET. This started in Glasgow, and they've just opened next to the Filmhouse. They do ridiculous sandwiches that will fill you up totally and entirely, and even do the fabled French Dip. Fantastic - but bear in mind I'm only going off Glasgow, although I expect the Burgh branch to be just the same. So new that the website doesn't even have the Edinburgh address yet (I think it opened yesterday...)
http://breadmeatsbread.com/

If you're looking for a cheap and good Burrito, another Glasgow-started establishment, Pinto has opened. Can you guess where? Yep. They do tasty, filling and cheap burritos and are well worth it for a quick munch. Are basically round the corner from where you're staying too. 
http://www.pintomexican.com/

If you're looking for a place just to chill, I'd recommend Lovecrumbs, which is a delightful cafe on West Port (round the corner the other way from Lothian Road from where you are.) Every morning they stick on Instagram the cakes they have baked that day and it is basically food porn. Great place to unwind for a couple of hours.
http://www.lovecrumbs.co.uk/

Should also add, because I know when time is tight, that Lothian Road houses a Starbucks, Wagamama and a Nandos. 

You can get up to Edinburgh Castle, round the back, by going up Castle Terrace, which leads off from the bottom of Lothian Road.

Basically - LOTHIAN ROAD.

Blue Swirl wrote:

Fewer frequently, innit.

No, innot.

Blew my mind.

Was closed though.

No love for Broughton Street no more?

Fond memories of Broughton Street.  I'm not even in Aberdeen anymore.  Not that Broughton Street is in Aberdeen.  Unless there is one.

Without wanting to totally hijack this thread, I am in Edinburgh quite a lot these days and get (fleeting) permission to go out on my own.  Will give you a bit more notice the next time in case there's a chance to meet up.  If you're school's in Colinton then either the Spylaw Tavern or the Colinton Inn can't be too far away on a Friday afternoon...

That's a bit further away (I'm less than five minutes on foot from the other two two when I'm staying) but it's perfectly doable.  Looks pubby, which is a good thing, although I've never been in.

It's bish bash bosh, didn't you learn last time?

It may actually be bish bosh bash.

Public transport.  I've had to accept that in Edinburgh it's not just for minks.

If you're in Glasgow on a Monday night head for Finnieston. Plenty of nice bars and good places to eat and they're all confined to a small area. It's only a £6 fare from the city centre. You could combine it with a journey to Ashton Lane which is just up from Finnieston off Byers Rd. I'll post some links tomorrow.

£6 from Finnieston to city centre are you having a laugh or are you talking taxi aka monarchy travel. Fucking underground train from Central to exhibition Centre you mad ones.

Aha, that one giant naan that would feed us all.

Racists etc.