Milnes Bar, Edinburgh

This easternmost Rose Street bar reminds me of the former 'Olde London' Spirit pubs down south, with low lighting, plenty of dark furniture, downstairs bar/ dining areas, etc. The similarities don't end there, because this is now a Belhaven (Greene King) pub, with IPA and Yardbird available, along with Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted (£4.65), from three of the five handpumps.

One of many pubs on the popular Rose Street strip, this one is quite traditional in appearance with dark green paintwork, gold lettering and a few tables and chairs outside for the warmer weather. Internally it’s surprisingly large and also quite traditional with dark wooden boards on the floor and black and white chequered tiling around the semi-circular bar counter. Painted cream wallpaper was on the ceiling along with some very thick, black beams and there was some newspaper style wallpaper on the wall at the rear, with dark green paintwork elsewhere. Seating here was unusual with high backed benches being fitted at right angles to the wall, creating almost the feel of individual booths. Along the front was black timberwork to create further segregated seating areas with high tables and stools. One table was on a slightly raised, semi-circular platform with balustrade around the edge, which I thought was another unusual feature. Three TV’s were showing a couple of sports channels, although the sound was off so this was not too intrusive. Beers on tap were Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted, Greene King IPA and their own “handcrafted house ale” Edinburgh Rock – which if you read the small print is not actually from Edinburgh, or even Scotland, but Bury St Edmunds! I think we can guess who makes that. Two further pumps appeared unused. The solitary cider was a rather disappointing Aspall’s Suffolk, for which they charged me £2.50 for a half. Overall, a pleasant enough boozer, but the poor cider choice and the process, mean that I’m unlikely to rush back.

So as Rob Camra previously said, Milnes Bar, 35 Hanover Street, and Milnes of Rose Street, 21-25 Rose Street are all part of the same pub. So I suppose listing Milnes of Rose Street separately would be confusing. Certainly looks a large pub with its two entrances.