Lauri, Lauriston, Edinburgh

An attractive looking, street corner pub located in a side street just south of the castle and slightly away from the touristy hot spots, it looks rather more like a wine bar rather than your traditional pub, and we weren’t at all sure whether we were going to find anything on draught or not. It’s quite small inside and traditional in terms of décor with some sort of parquet wood flooring, although it really looks as though it may be in the process of being renovated. There was very rough plasterwork on the walls with the paint peeling off in places, and whilst a suspended ceiling had clearly been fitted at some point, the tiles had been removed leaving just the supporting timberwork with all the electrical cables and other services draped across the top. Anywhere else and it might have felt a right dump, but here it somehow felt more shabby chic. A large free standing wine rack formed something of a partition in the middle of the pub, whilst the seating was a mixture of wooden furniture including church pews, chairs and stools. Fortunately, there were some beers on tap, namely Newbarn’s Sparkling Ale and Kerr’s Borderer, whilst a third pump had it’s clip reversed. The solitary cider meanwhile was Oliver’s Sheep’s Nose.

Quite a plain interior serving a continental keg selection and and an extensive bottled beer choice.