Malt & Hops, Leith, Edinburgh

A traditional looking green painted pub in a cobbled street overlooking the quay, it’s certainly in a prime spot and was attracting plenty of custom on our recent Friday evening visit. Fortunately one table was leaving just as we had arrived, but even that was only a small round table that rather felt it was just stuck in the middle of the floor. It’s very traditional inside too with much wood panelling on the walls, embossed and painted paper on the ceiling interspersed with chunky old beams. Bunches of hops were hanging from most of the beams, along with plenty of beer mats and foreign bank notes as well as a good collection of jugs above the bar. The walls were liberally covered with old brewery mirrors and adverts, as well as a large oil painting of the quayside. A small stone fireplace was off to one side, although this was not in use on our visit, whilst the seating was predominantly fitted green banquette seating around the perimeter and small stools. Beers on tap were Oakham’s Nectaron and JHB, Hawks Head Dry Stone stout, Tyneside Blonde, Gan Yam Single Hop Dark Mild, Moonwake Golden Promise, Fyne Ales Avalanche and Siren Mesmerist. After that lot, the cider choice was distinctly disappointing with just Stowford Press. Overall, I really liked it here, it was certainly in the top two of the pubs we tried in Leith despite the poor cider selection.

Nice traditional ale house style pub on the Water of Leith in the older part of town. An older building the decor is dominated by drink related stuff, pump clips, brewery and distillery mirrors etc and a forest of hop bines. Eight pulls of Scots and English beers plus a couple of T-Bars of standard and non-standard kegs. Well worth a visit.

Very traditional-looking pub by the quayside, with a dark interior enlivened by plenty of breweriana and a very welcome real fire on a cold winter day. With seven of eight handpumps on the counter in use, we found an excellent range of real ales in different styles, mostly from smaller breweries from the Lake District and more locally. Hard to choose, but I went for the Goodhews Dry Stout (£4.50) which was first rate. Also had various interesting options on the keg taps, and mulled cider also offered during the festive season.