The White Hart Inn, Edinburgh

Visited 06/11/25 Four hand pumps, one not dispensing, one with a reversed Abbot clip, Old Golden Hen and their own branded White Hart Inn Best Bitter. Keg offering of Belhaven Black, Innis & Gunn lager, GK Hazy Day, Pravha, Aspall cider and Belhaven Best. Atmospheric old inn, proclaim Edinburgh's oldest on a board just inside the door. Bare boarded quite small, square room with the bar counter in the rear left-hand corner with tall stool seating along its longer side. Some ledge seating in the bay windows at the front looking out onto the Grassmarket and then some regular tables down the right-hand side. There is quite a bit of seating out the front on the Grassmarket. Thought this one was a bit lacking compared to many of the pubs I have been in on this crawl of Edinburgh Central.

Billed as Edinburgh’s oldest pub dating from 1516, who knows? it has been renovated many times I guess as apart from some Victorian woodwork and a fireplace there’s nothing old in here. Obviously aimed at the tourist trade it has an emphasis on food resulting in poor bar service. Eleven keg taps of Belhaven and UK national kegs plus four hand pumps, one with the Belhaven “Our Heritage” pump clip (not a beer!) an Old Golden Hen, reversed Abbot and a Greene King/Belhaven bitter (3.9%) badged as a house beer, probably Deuchars IPA. The fake beams have lines from Burns painted on and there’s some claimed link on a sign in a Burns shrine by the front door.

One of a number of pubs along the popular Grassmarket strip, this appears to be one of the more traditional options in the vicinity and I could happily have settled in here for a good couple of hours if only we hadn’t had a restaurant booked. Décor wise it’s quite traditional as mentioned, with plenty of old wooden beams on the ceiling, wood strip flooring and dark green wood panelling on much of the walls. An old black and white picture of the pub with the castle in the background featured prominently, along with a sign saying that it was established in 1516. A fireplace was off to one side with a stag’s antlers above, as well as a few other bits and pieces such as pots, teapots and a few pictures. Plenty of pewter tankards hung from the ceiling. Beer choice was perhaps a little disappointing with just Old Golden Hen and their own Best Bitter being available, whilst a third pump for Abbott Ale appeared to have run out and a fourth just had a sign on it detailing Belhaven’s brewing heritage but was apparently not dispensing anything. The solitary cider meanwhile was also a rather disappointing Aspall’s, and the prices seemed a little steep with three pints coming in at £18.75. Overall, whilst I thought it was a very nice pub, they really need to work on their beer selection and pricing a bit.

Official site of The White Hart Inn - www.belhavenpubs.co.uk

Official site of The White Hart Inn - www.belhavenpubs.co.uk