Panda and Sons hides behind a false barbershop front, and a voting academy of over two hundred bartenders and drinks writers put it second in the UK in 2025 and ninth in 2026. Three Edinburgh bars sit on that 2026 list, most of the good drinking here happens down a stair, and Bramble, the room everybody sends you to, takes no bookings at all.
Basement cocktail bars.
The rooms, best first
- Panda & Sonsverified
Transcend runs sixteen drinks across four chapters of freezing technique, in a basement behind a false barbershop front.
- Hey Paluverified
An Italian bar on Bread Street where the drinks trade orders a Negroni and drinks the amaro shelf neat.
- Bramble Bar & Loungeverified
A small unbookable room under Queen Street, ranked 13th in the UK in 2023 and 36th in 2025.
- Nauticusverified
A Leith bar whose drinks list is written as the port's own trading history, ranked 12th in the UK in 2025.
- The Last Word Saloonverified
The house Last Word Revisited clarifies the Chartreuse and finishes on a lime oleo saccharum.
- Lucky Liquor Coverified
Thirteen bottles, thirteen drinks, and the whole menu rebuilt from scratch every thirteen weeks.