The Kenilworth, Edinburgh

A Nicholsons pub with a splendid historic interior with numerous features of interest around the highly impressive island bar. Tiled walls, moulded ceiling, stained glass upper windows, small screens by both front doors, etc. There is also a much smaller (and less interesting) dining room at the back. Six real ales on offer, with Caledonian Double Dark (£3.25) being the pick of the bunch. Overall, something of a 'must visit' but my rating from this visit is lower than it would otherwise have been due to a very short-measure pint and a distinct lack of enthusiasm from the barman when I asked him to to it up.

Another of my unreviewed (until now) regular haunts in Edinburgh. Perfectly described by Roger below, it has a fine example of a Scottish traditional island bar. There's usually several well kept ales on the bar and the food is pretty good considering it's part of the Nicholsons chain. It can get absolutely packed in tourist season, but it's a great place to visit January - March before the hordes of American & Japanese tourists descend on the city. It's a very good pub.

Named after a Walter Scott novel, this Nicholsons pub was originally built as a private residence in the late 18th Century and converted to a pub in 1904. Much of the single room interior has remained unchanged since then although there has been some necessary restoration done. The pub is listed on the CAMRA Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors. The interior is one large single room with a huge island bar that does seem a bit disproportionate and much of the seating is squeezed to the edges creating a few bottlenecks when busy. A couple of small snugs and divides around the bar were apparently 1960’s additions. The textured tiling and ornate ceilings are original and particularly noteworthy. Brewery / distillery mirrors are the centerpieces of the décor and a large personalized mirror looms high on the rear wall. A separate small room at the rear labeled the Scott Room was also added in the 60’s and is easily missed unless you visit the loos. As you would expect with Nicholsons, there is a decent selection of ales with 5 across the 8 pumps; Harviestoun American IPA, Vale Black Beauty, Copper Dragon Golden Pippa, Caledonian Deuchars and Brains Rev James although the Brains had a reversed clip. Service was quite welcoming although my pint needed a top up which was done with no quibbles. The general ambience was very civilized and the piped background music wasn’t a distraction. Unless it is busy (which I have no doubt it can get) it is a decent stop for a couple of beers and I would certainly recommend it to anyone trying to whittle down the areas numerous taverns to a more realistic and select few.