The Cafe Royal Bar, Edinburgh

The star turn of Edinburgh’s heritage pubs. A high-ceilinged, ornate interior with a large oval-shaped island bar, mirrored wood dividers, stained glass windows, fantastic moulded red gold & white ceiling, marble edging. At the far side of the pub is the star attraction, a full-length tiled wall (from 1886) depicting a number of famous inventors at the time of their particular discovery. To the right of the bar, behind the aforementioned mirrored wood divider, is a starched white tablecloth restaurant area which is also ferociously opulent. Eight ales in total with four each side though annoyingly this fact was not signposted so I accidentally missed out on a really good beer. What I did end up with were Edinburgh EPA (very good nick) and Pundie (good). At £4.10 it was an expensive pair of halves but given the location, perhaps not obviously unpredictable. It’s a real ‘must-do’ and came out second the Bow Bar in terms of pubs visited during my stay. A few yards from Waverley BR so no excuse not to stop-off next time. Incredible to think that this was slated for demolition back in the late 60’s – what the hell were people on back then? A real ‘do before you die’ place.