The Last Drop, Edinburgh

Nicholsons pub near the old place of execution hence the name and some of the decor. Fairly touristy and old worlde in part. The counter is near the back with a range of keg solos and three hand pumps, two with Stewart beers the other with the Nicholsons house beer brewed by St Austell. Bench seating and chairs at low square tables but only the right hand end through some arches is designated as a dining area and folk were eating all round. A couple of screens were showing Bargain Hunt silently so as not to interfere with the piped music.

One of several bars and pubs along the popular Grassmarket strip, this is a Nicholson’s outlet although somewhat smaller than the majority of their establishments, which perhaps goes some way to explaining the limited choice of both food and drink on offer. It’s a fairly compact, inverse ‘U’ shaped pub, with the bar counter at the rear and a dining area, complete with a “Please wait here to be seated sign” through an archway to the right. Décor wise it’s quite traditional, with a few black beams on the ceiling as well as some chunky black painted supporting pillars and dark wood strip on much of the floor. Walls were mostly plain cream paintwork with some small areas of exposed brickwork, along with very dark, almost black wood panelling down below, and there were also some partitions in a similar colour to segregate the space somewhat. One of these contained a glazed panel, witched with the pub’s name and a hangman’s rope. A number of pictures were dotted around the walls, several relating to the nearby gallows from which the pub takes it’s name. Seating was a mixture of fitted red banquette seating around the permitter along with regular chairs and a couple of high tables. The food menu was somewhat smaller than usual for this chain, and I opted for the Balmoral Chicken with bacon, whisky sauce and mash. It was tasty enough, but the chicken was dry and overcooked, so not really that great. Unfortunately there were no real ales on tap due to a problem with some unspecified piece of equipment in the cellar. Aside from this, there were only three hand pumps on the bar, one of which would have offered their own Pale Ale, whilst the other two were unclipped. The solitary cider meanwhile was henry Weston’s Vintage. Overall, I was a bit disappointed with this, I generally find Nicholson’s to be pretty good for a chain, but I’m not sure I’d bother with this one again, although the barman was certainly friendly enough.

A pub well described by previous reviewers and I found it a pleasant place with its wooden beams, stone walls and brick archways leading to a back room covered in fake and real ( a lot signed) foreign banknotes and colourful event posters. Although I will agree it does have a slightly touristic manufactured feel to it. Like all the pubs on the north side of the Grass market it does have decent outside seating from which to enjoy the Grassmarket atmosphere on a fine weather day. Probably the most significant change from previous reviews is that The Last Drop is now part of the Nicholson chain, bringing the number of their establishments in Edinburgh up to seven. And as such all the hand pumps (I think I counted 4 but won’t swear to it) were on the go and dispensing beers from the current Nicholson Summer list and had to go for the Inveralmond brewery Homecoming Scotland. Nicholsons seem to be looking after their other Edinburgh establishments on the evidence of a couple of the others I utilised over this weekend, so hopefully they will continue to improve the Real ale offerings in The Last Drop.

Like all the pubs down the Grassmarket worth a visit

Interior as described by roger button below. Food and 1 real ale served.