I have to admit that until recently, I had assumed the Bow Bar on Victoria Street had been around for a long, long time. I thought it was a Cafe Royal or Guildford Arms that had been delighting Edinburgh’s pub-going fraternity for generations. It came as a surprise then to find out that in its current guise, it has only existed since the early 1990s. This hasn’t affected my opinion of the place, it just made me go, “Oh, really?” Anyway, what is the Bow Bar like?
The Canons’ Gait on Edinburgh’s Canongate is a funny one. I’ve been going there for several years, especially during my days working in the Old Town (I even had my leaving do there), when it was less busy, more welcoming and considerably less expensive than the nearby Holyrood 9a. But why’s it funny? Well, I guess I just feel it’s still trying to work out what it wants to be but has never fully committed in any direction.
It’s 5.01pm on a Friday afternoon and the Waverley on St Mary’s Street is definitely shut and doesn’t exactly look about to open. I carry on to the Holyrood 9A and alert my acquaintance to this fact. He gets this message 10 minutes later. When he’s in the Waverley. It’s comes as no real surprise as the Waverley has always been a bit of a mystery, but unlike a Rebus or Skinner tale, this is a very pleasant, unassuming mystery. So what does go on behind those black doors of an evening?