A Sunday Afternoon in Edinburgh

It's Sunday, the working week is over, family commitments have been fulfilled. I have an afternoon that I can enjoy !

So I went into Edinburgh with a good friend, John, and we spent the afternoon in four great pubs. They Were - "The Halfway House" - "The Guildford" - "Cafe Royal Bar & Buffet" and "The Voodoo Rooms". We had a great afternoon just chilling out, drinking some great ales and soaking in the atmosphere from these beautiful, traditional Edinburgh pubs. To help show you more a bout the pubs We took along a video camera and filmed a little in each of them, the films are below. There is also a pub review page for each of them on the Pub Reviews page.

The first pub we went to was "The Halfway House". This is halfway up the steps, ( that's why its called the halfway house ), on Flesh Market Close, just across from the Waverly train station. I have passed this pub many times and wondered what it was like on the inside, especially as it has a large sign outside telling us it was "Edinburgh pub of the year 2009". Well I can tell you it is SMALL ! but cosy and serves some great real ales from Scotland's new breweries. It also serves traditional Scottish food such as haggis, oatcakes, etc. I can see why it was pub of the year as it makes a real effort to provide an excellent selection of food and drinks which is constantly changing.

Check out the video:

We then moved onto The Guildford Arms, which is on West Register street. This is on the other side of the Waverly train station, behind the Princess Street Burger King. We came here because I had been in contact with the person who writes the web site www.goodbeergoodpubs.com and they were astonished that I didn't have it on the site already. This gave me a brilliant excuse to come back here, (not that I needed much encouragement). This is one of my all time favourite Edinburgh pubs. It has been family owned for over a hundred years, it serves great cask conditioned ales, a large selection of whiskies and I have never had any bad service, even when the bar is full to bursting. Today however it was quite quiet and me and John just chatted over A couple of pints of Exciseman's Ale and took in the surroundings. I took a small video, (which is now on the pub review page for the Guildford Arms), then we tried to take another little video, have a look at what happened below:

Round the corner, still on West Register Street is The Cafe Royal Bar & Buffet. This is a beautiful bar and is more than worth a visit for the decor alone, never mind the excellent service and great selection of food and drinks. This is a great place to take your wife, girlfriend, or in my case, John. It is just a great place to be, although I felt that we were a little under dressed. I've been here many times before, the last time I was here I was with my mate Donny and we both had the oysters - they were fabulous ! Check out the pictures on the pub review page, (the link is highlighted in brown above), and the video below:

If you keep going round the corner on West Register Street then you come to The Voodoo Rooms, (as this was the fourth pub of the afternoon we were getting a little merry). The Voodoo Rooms is more than just a bar, it's a music venue, a cafe restaurant, a club, etc. The decor is black and gold and hits you like a wet leather glove, especially if you've had a few. Apart from that, I like this place and have seen many comedy shows here and spent a few nights at this bar during the festival. Well worth a visit, for many different reasons. Check out the video.

We really enjoyed the time we spent that afternoon and no doubt will do it again some time soon.

Cheers !

Alastair

P.S. If you know of some good pubs, Please tell me !!! - I'm always on the look out for new places to go.