Greyfriars Bobby, Edinburgh

Another of Nicholson’s Edinburgh pubs and although I primarily walked to Greyfriars Kirkyard to visit the pub, yes I had to stroke the dogs nose and get myself photographed doing so (well I was in tourist mode). As mentioned below the true story of Greyfrairs Bobby may not be in line with the version sold to Hollywood and the now commonly believed truth is that it was probably a stray who made a home for himself in the kirkyard. But even so that’s still a lot closer than some fictional loch dwelling monster peddled by the Scottish tourist board to entice unsuspecting tourists to the most boring stretch of still water to be experience in this fine landscaped country.. Oops sorry, rant over, back to the pub. Inside you find a series of sections stepping downwards with the bar at the upper end and then a number of comfortable seating areas to the dining area at its far end. We didn’t eat in this one, but the standard Nicholson’s food menu was available and the majority of people in had come for that reason. Yes its primarily there to service the tourist trade and sell them food , but at least now there are five real ale pumps with offerings from the Nicholson’s summer list and my pint of Broughton Brewers gold was perfectly fine.

Called in here for our dinner after doing the pubs in the Grassmarket area very nice part of the Nicholson chain and you dont get many bad ones the food was good and the beer better

Nicholson's pub located next to Greyfriars Kirkyard and the statue of greyfriars bobby. 5 real ales and food served. On entry the pub has a quite formal dining area to the left with a lounge area to the right down some steps.

The story of Greyfrairs and Bobby, the loyal Skye Terrior that guarded his master’s grave for 14 years, is a local legend albeit somewhat economical with the truth according to some recent reports. Outside the pub can be found Edinburgh’s smallest listed “building”, a lifesize statuette of the dog dating from 1872 that continues to draw the visitors and tug enough heartstrings to lure them into the pub. It is alledged that the statue was at some point turned around by a previous landlord to ensure that the pub constantly features in people’s photos. The pub is housed in what looks like a couple of cattages mmerged together and the interior is split between the main bar which in itself is semi-divided into 2 halves and a sunken side section. The décor is a bit pub by numbers with tartan carpets, paneled walls and a few interesting movie stills including a signed photo of Walt Disney. The furnishings are more pub than lounge with a few padded banquettes in the sunken side bar. There are a couple of TV’s and some harmless piped background music. As one would expect, the pub draws a lot on the passing tourist trade and despite it being an early midweek lunchtime for my visit, the place was busy with a good proportion having lunch. Just as well as for a Nicholson’s pub it didn’t pull too many punches on the wet side of things and the choices of beers was quite poor with just 1 ale (the ubiquitous Caledonian Deuchars) across 4 pumps. A blackboard listed a coupl of doze whiskies. Price wise (£3.10 for the Deeuchars) it was a bit more reasonable than some of the more tourist destination pubs in town. The menu was typical chain pub stuff with main courses £7-10. What started out as a pub that was high on the to do list turned out to be little more than average one pinter and whilst I’m glad it’s ticked off, I can’t see that it warrants a visit at the expense of any of the more superior pubs in the vicinity.