The White Hart Inn wears a white-painted facade and an exterior lantern that distinguishes it from the surrounding stone buildings of the Grassmarket. It stands on foundations dating back to fifteen sixteen, making it one of the oldest pub…
Old Town Literary Pubs
Walk in the footsteps of Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson, and twentieth-century folk revivalists through the historic taverns where they drank, argued, and wrote.
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1. The White Hart Inn
2. Sandy Bell's
The low, grey stone frontage of Sandy Bell's sits on Forrest Road, distinguished by its dark green paint and the modest wooden sign hanging above the door. Originally a modest public house in the nineteenth century, it became a focal point…
3. Deacon Brodies Tavern
The sign above the door of Deacon Brodies Tavern displays a man hanging from a gallows. This image honors William Brodie, a respectable city councilor and master locksmith by day who operated as a prolific burglar by night. He used his…
4. Jolly Judge
The Jolly Judge sits down a narrow close off the Royal Mile, marked by a low wooden door and a weathered sign. Inside, the ceiling is carved with dark, heavy timber beams that date back to the seventeenth century. During the nineteen…
5. The Royal Oak
The Royal Oak displays a weathered, unassuming green wooden storefront that disappears into the stone row of the Pleasance. This pub exists as a sanctuary for folk music, operating in a space that has held a license since the…
6. Tolbooth Tavern
The Tolbooth Tavern anchors the corner of the Canongate with a clock projecting over the sidewalk on a long iron arm. Built in fifteen ninety-one, this stone structure served as the administrative heart of the old Canongate burgh. It…