Ryries Bar, Edinburgh

Lovely old building very handy for Haymarket Station. Part of a group that includes The Abbotsford and The Guildford Arms. 8 real ale taps.

A well known pub outside Haymarket station, a brown building in vaguely Scottish baronial style with its crow steps, the lower part with wood and stained glass. A long counter in the first of two rooms as you enter from the very busy crossroads outside, its fairly narrow with tables at banquettes down the outer walls. The counter is home to 8 pulls, 1 Thistley cider, 2 blank, Taylor’s Landlord,  Vocation Chop & Change, one each from Swannay, Fyne, and Orkney. A couple of low T-Bars have the usual keg stuff. Plain decor apart from the thistle wallpaper and the odd mirror, a fair bit of old wood is still in situ. Very busy on my Friday afternoon visit with bar blockers and at the tables, maybe discerning drinkers or those just waiting for a train, there’s a train describer screen in the main bar. Famous it may be but I found it lacking in atmosphere and warmth. Cocktail bar and dining upstairs which is for hire.

Visited 05/11/25 Cask was quite impressive here with Jarl from Fyne Ales, TT LL, Orkney IPA from Swannay Brewery, Mothership from Ascencion cider, Dark Island Dark Ale from Orkney Brewery, Snake Eyes Pale Ale from Two-by-Two Brewing, Nonchalant Shark XPA from Lost Pier. Keg was Cromarty Raptor pale ale, Cold Town Lab Doddie Bier, Leith Juice from Campervan Brewery, Hazy IPA from Stewart Brewing, Tennent's, Paolozzi Helles lager, San Miguel, Staro, Caledonia Best, Thistly Cross and Guinness. Very lively pub on my early evening visit. Impressive stained-glass windows. Herringbone patterned wooden block flooring. Bar counter with tall, backed stool seating along its length on the right-hand wall starting from near the entrance. Banquette serving regular tables in front window to left of entrance and then down the left-hand wall opposite the bar counter. There is an area down a step at the rear with a fitted leather banquette around the rear corner. The venue has plenty of standing space in both the front and rear part of the venue. There is an upstairs bar and dining area that I didn't check out. A single screen was showing train departure times from nearby Haymarket station. Thought this one was high in the pecking order on my two-day visit to Edinburgh Central.

This has been one of my go to bars in Edinburgh for a number of years, and I helped improve its heritage interior profile by reporting the removal of the "clutter" above the bar back. But I've not written a review before. Too busy enjoying the beers, or - the last time I was here - being engaged in conversation by a couple of bar hangers from England. This is a tremendous pub, with eight hand pumps offering beers from some of Scotland's independent breweries that don't always get a look in (plus Timothy Taylor). I usually go for Orkney Dark Island, and on this occasion I even swerved it in a previous pub because I was so sure it would be on here. Not so. I went for a different Orkney beer, Thor's Hammer and one from Swannay, the "other" Orkney brewery. Both were in the region of NBSS 3 to 3.5 and my two halves were £5.85.

GBG 2025 - right outside Haymarket Station and the pub has a train information board inside, so you can plan your return. Impressive external view - a detached building, almost castle-like. Inside, its a long bar with bench seating opposite an impressively long bar. You can watch the bar staff. They can watch you. Plenty of cask choice and I went for a rather lively Fyne Jarl - a pint that varied in quality over my week in Edinburgh but was fine in here. Bit of a transient feel with the punters - with most quickly coming and going.