The Guildford Arms, Edinburgh

We left the Guildford Arms and the neighbouring Cafe Royal Bar to the last evening of our visit to Edinburgh as a way to sign off the trip, and what a double to finish these are. The Guildford Arms is a superb destination pub and one that should be included in any visit to Edinburgh. Converted to a pub from an existing shop in 1898 during the golden age in Scottish pub design, it is now a rare survivor of that period when Scottish publicans responded to the strong Temperance Movement of the time by investing in extremely grand premises to differentiate from the common seedy drinking dens. Once you have negotiated the revolving front door you are faced with a magnificent ornate dark wood interior and an impressive canopied bar. We managed to get a seat up the end by the equally wonderful Gallery Restaurant mezzanine level, the underside of which is mirrored for effect. Although a lot plainer than the ground floor it is worth taking a look up the stairs to the Gallery restaurant because from here you get a great view of the rest of the pub and especially the ornate ceiling, which you are now obviously a lot closer to. But as Roger says it’s not all about the décor and we were lucky to visit when they had a complete mix of Ales on the 11 working pumps. And to prove it these were Cairngorn Wildcat, Highland Brewery Company Island Hopping, Alechemy Amarillo Burst IPA, Scottish Border Brewery Foxy Blond, Orkney Dark Island, Williams Brothers Birds & Bees, Harviestoun Schiehallion, Craft Beer Kitchen Magnum Scrachi Ale, Stewarts Pentland IPA and last and very least in this company Charles Wells Bombardier. Between us we tried five of these and they were all in top condition. Very difficult to pull ourselves out of this one.

This pub has been one of my regular haunts in Auld Reekie for years, but for some reason I've never got around to reviewing it. Expertly described by Roger below it's a architectural gem and if that floats your boat try the Cafe Royal next door. They often have weeks where they showcase one brewery's beers which is probably what Roger encountered. At other times it's a complete mix of differing ales, mostly Scottish, all well kept on every occasion I've visited, which has been often. Like I said it's a gem even in Edinburgh, which is full of gems.

Quietly situated around a bend just off busy Princes St, the Guildford Arms is a splendid wedge shaped Victorian gin palace with many well preserved features. The intricate and ornate high ceiling and the upper wall frieze are works of art and worthy of a visit by themselves. Factor in the ten handpumps serving a good range of mainly Scottish beers in excellent condition and you have one of Edinburgh's must visit pubs. I spotted beers from Orkney, Caledonian, Brewdog, Atlas plus Big Lamp from Newcastle. There were three on from Orkney, I plumped for the Northern Lights which was first rate. Not cheap at £5.40 for my pint plus a glass of lemonade, but I don't know how the split works. Comfortable, carpeted with traditional seating around the exterior walls, a stair rises from the middle of the pub to a galleried restaurant. Huge windows to the two outer elevations let in plenty of light and give scale to the room. The pub was very busy on Saturday afternoon and we had to hover for a table, but soon succeeded. Definitely worth taking the trouble to find, I could have stayed much longer.