18/05/17 - CAMRA Edinburgh Pub Walks - Walk 6 - Rose Street and New Town

Distance - Less than a Mile
Pubs - 3


Bob Steel has been my guide for many pub related adventures in London.  He knows more than one City.

More Adventures Within

It's only a question of which walk to complete.  I am limited both on time and a lack of understanding of Edinburgh Bus Routes, so a three pub jaunt in Rose Street seems just the ticket.

I've read a lot of Irvine Welsh and he described Rose Street as being for "Tourists and Walkers", so it's just perfect for my needs.  I may have mis-remembered a single letter in that summary.

The Oxford Bar, 8 Young Street, Cairngorm Trade Winds

Yep, I've read all the Ian Rankin Books and Yep, I have previously seeked out this key location for Rebus to ponder his evidence when solving crimes.

I'm not going to sugar coat it.  It's a tough experience to walk in as a stranger, although for a minute, I do wonder if its been gentrified.

Maybe selling more than Corn Beef and Beetroot Sarnies?

The makeover only extends as far as the outside.

External Makeover

Misconceptions of gentrification are dismissed on entry.  To the left, is the narrow bar, presided over by a picture of Ken Stott and Ian Rankin.   There's no music to mask your approach and you are forced to budge through the locals gathered, eyeing up anyone they don't know.

There is a hush as you order your drink.  It's prison yard rules and survival is dependent of someone being weaker than you - so I let the American in front of me try and order a Malt.  The landlady (slighter than the landlord I remember, but still as fearsome) refuses to serve him until he pronounces Glenmorangie correctly.

It takes three goes in an atmosphere you could cut a knife with.... with me thinking "get it right, Brad or for god's sake have a Highland Park" as he goes through the pantomime.

My order for a Cairngorms Trade Winds is easier and appears to be met with approval.  Bar conversation resumes and I take my drink to the sparsely furnished side room, set aside specifically for tourists and Rebus fans.

Uncompromising, rough around the (interior) edges and I wouldn't change a thing about it.

The Kenilworth, Rose Street, Timothy Taylor Mild

Rose Street is packed with pubs / bars / restaurants and middle aged men being sick, whilst comforted by their drinking partners.

I'm sure I've been to the Kenilworth before, but you need a Guide to point out its beauty.  For it is beautiful, inside and out.

The Kenilworth

Captures the Ceiling, The Island Bar and the Beer

I have the place more or less to myself and get to photo all the things pointed out in the book.  Beer wise, I usually go LocALE but this was a chance to sample the lesser spotted Timothy Taylor Mild.

They kindly put it in a Deuchars glass so I wouldn't stand out.

The Abottsford, Rose Street, Strathaven Ales Old Mortality

A similar experience to the Kenilworth.   Without someone to point out the features, it would be just another pub in a long street of pubs.  A nondescript sandstone exterior does however lead to a pub that it is on CAMRA National Inventory of Pub Interiors.

Abbotsford - Outside

Abbotsford - Inside

Another fine example of a beautifully ceiling-ed, Island bar boozer and a guide who has shown me the best of the area.