Pubs & Bars in Edinburgh

This text is from a booklet about Edinburgh.

Edinburgh has always been a drinker’s city. The 18th-century poets Robert Fergusson and Robert Burns spent much of their time in – and drew inspiration from – Edinburgh’s public houses, and rather than attend his law lectures at Edinburgh University, the young Robert Louis Stevenson preferred to haunt the city’s many howffs (drinking dens) – a perpetuated by many Edinburgh students to this day.

Although many city-centre pubs have been “themed” or converted into vast drinking halls catering to office workers unwinding at the end of the day, the local, neighbourhood bar is still a social centre, where you can meet friends, watch the football on TV, listen to live music or take part in the Tuesday night quiz. Edinburgh has over 700 bars that are as varied as the population … everything from Victorian palaces to rough-and-ready drinking dens, and from real-ale howffs to trendy cocktail bars.

The bell for last orders rings about 15 minutes before closing time and you’re allowed 15 minutes’ drinking-up time after the bar closes.