The Cambridge Bar has always felt more burger-bar-like than pub-like
Like the River Thames between Mortlake and Putney, Edinburgh’s Young Street also sees Oxford competing with Cambridge. Unlike the annual boat race however, the two pubs in question here have stood yards apart every day for many years. And maybe “competing” is the wrong word as the similarities between Rebus’s favourite Oxford Bar and the younger, more modern Cambridge Bar are few and far between.
Edinburgh has a good range of what I would describe as destination pubs. The likes of Cafe Royal, Leslie’s Bar and Bennets offer great beer, great service and an element of historical fascination. The Crofters in Sighthill is perhaps in a different category. This is the kind of place I could easily have gone through my entire Edinburgh drinking life never visiting but for a recent job change. So what does lie within this bungalow beside a petrol station on the Calder Road?
Going out to the pub for breakfast is something I’ve only really discovered in recent years. Now it’s one of my favourite things to do. So the other Saturday when Mrs Bar Fly and I fancied a fry-up fix, we headed down to Teuchters Landing – a break from the norm, it has to be said. Living in Edinburgh, near Leith, I have to admit my default option for a weekend breakfast up till now has been the King’s Wark at The Shore, which does an excellent breakfast albeit often accompanied by somewhat shambolic service. Not rude, just disorganised. So would Teuchters Landing be able to equal or better its nearby rival?
There is a joke shop in the Grassmarket in Edinburgh that has “Push” beside the door handle on one side and “Pull” on the other. Of course, they’ve been reversed for comic effect. Simple but effective and it appeals to my immature sense of humour. At The Magnum on Albany Street in Edinburgh’s New Town, the signs on the door are also a little different in that they read “Shove” and “Tug”. It’s a nice, original touch and one that raised a smile as we headed along for drinks and a spot of dinner there recently.
By a quirk of fate, Bennets Bar in Tollcross was both the last pub I visited in 2013 and the first I visited in 2014. Lucky me, I should think, as a good acquaintance of mine rates this as the best pub in Edinburgh. Now, it’s too early in my pub blogging career to be handing out accolades like that but I can see where he’s coming from.
A drinking establishment of some description has stood here since 1839, however it has not always been Bennets. The current pub was born in 1906 when the King’s Theatre replaced the Taylor MacLeod brewery next door. Since then, not much has changed and for this we should be thankful.