Guildford Arms
The Stewart family has run this bar since it opened in 1896, and they still put on two ten-day beer festivals a year plus fifteen smaller ones, each pouring four beers from a single brewery at one price.
Why go
Ten fonts line the canopied island counter, drawing on up to eight Scottish breweries at a time, with Fyne Ales Jarl, Swannay Orkney IPA, Loch Lomond Silkie Stout, Stewart Pentland IPA and Timothy Taylor Landlord as the standing five.2 CAMRA grades the room One Star on its National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors, a pub interior of special national historic interest
, B-listed, designed by Robert MacFarlane Cameron and opened in 1896.1 The gallery restaurant sits above the main bar and the kitchen stops at nine.
The kitchen also has a live problem, and it belongs here beside the recommendation. City of Edinburgh inspected the premises on 10 June 2026 and rated it Improvement Required under the Food Hygiene Information Scheme, which is the failing grade of the Scottish system. That finding is under two months old and still in force.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the cask. Jarl is the standing pale that tells you how the cellar is being kept, and the guest list turns over fast enough to be worth reading at the bar before you commit.
- Order, with the caveat above in hand: the sausages, which are the one dish anybody has written about. Keith Davidson for Time Out:
Good menu, wonderful signature sausages and very handy indeed for Waverley Station.
3 That was written in 2014. - Avoid: treating this as the dinner stop while the June rating stands. The beer is the reason the pub is on this list.
What locals & experts say
- Keith Davidson, Time Out Edinburgh (2014):
a very grand pub that might even justify the word opulent with its ornate ceiling, decorative touches, gallery and attractive bar,
wherethe cask ales come from all over the British Isles so you're as likely to find something local to Edinburgh as you are a well-travelled guest ale from Devon.
3 - CAMRA, National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors (surveyed January 2026):
Most of the grand interior dates from the 1896 opening and is a fine example of Victorian rococo, best viewed from the gallery above the main bar. The deep-etched windows are still largely intact as is the revolving door. The ornate island counter is, though, a 1970 replacement.
1 - Gaby Soutar, The Scotsman (2026): writing about the pub next door, she counts the Guildford's revolving door as
one of three in the city, with the other two at The Balmoral Hotel and The Guildford Arms.
5
Good to know
- Hygiene, in full: Food Hygiene Information Scheme, Improvement Required, inspected 10 June 2026 by City of Edinburgh, premises 5 West Register Street EH2 2AA, FHRSID 95924. The Scottish scheme publishes no component scores, so there is nothing behind the headline to read the way there would be with an English 0 to 5 rating. For contrast on the same lane, Cafe Royal twenty meters west was inspected on 5 March 2026 and passed.
- Timing: the venue's own site gives the bar until midnight Sunday to Thursday and 1am Friday and Saturday, with the kitchen shutting at nine. The CAMRA branch record shows earlier midweek closes, so check before you plan the end of a night on it.
- Booking: walk-in, and tables can be reserved by email.2
- Sites: D M Stewart Ltd runs four Edinburgh pubs, the Abbotsford on Rose Street, the Cumberland Bar in the New Town and Ryries at Haymarket alongside this one. This page is the West Register Street premises and nothing here transfers to the other three.
- Address: the pub and CAMRA both give 1 West Register Street; the hygiene register lists the premises at number 5. Same corner block, same postcode, one pub.
- Getting there: two minutes on foot from Waverley, and a couple more up to The Stand on York Place.
Jeff's take (his words)
The case for it rests on the CAMRA grading and the beer programme, and the hygiene finding above is why it comes with a caution.
Verdict
could-visit — The beer case is real. Ten fonts, up to eight Scottish breweries running at once, two ten-day festivals a year and fifteen smaller ones built around a single brewery each, which is a buyer doing actual work. The room is CAMRA One Star and B-listed, the family has held it since 1896, and it sits two minutes from Waverley and a couple more from The Stand, so it is well placed for a night that starts at a show. What holds it at could-visit is the food-hygiene finding in force: City of Edinburgh rated the premises Improvement Required on 10 June 2026, the failing tier of the Scottish scheme, and a finding that fresh is a reason to keep a venue out of somebody's first three. Go for a pint and the ceiling. Eat with your eyes open, or eat somewhere else and come back for the beer.