Jolly Judge
CAMRA's Edinburgh branch has voted this its Cider Pub of the Year three years running, in a city that argues about cask.
Why go
The bar keeps six ciders rotating, which is what the vote is actually about. The branch published first place for cider in 2024, again in 2025, and again on 25 February 2026, when it added that Jolly Judge will now go forward to be judged for the Scottish CPOTY.
Its regional body went further in 2023 and made it Scotland and Northern Ireland Cider Pub of the Year. The cask side stands up on its own record: Edinburgh Pub of the Year in 2024 ahead of the Dreadnought and the Stockbridge Tap, second in 2025, joint third in 2026. CAMRA's record for the pub lists four changing beers here and no regulars, usually from smaller breweries UK-wide, so nothing on the bar is fixed. Members judge on beer quality plus service, welcome, atmosphere and value, which is why the run of placings says more than any single vote.2
Order this / avoid
- Order: the cider. Four straight titles, one of them regional, is the whole argument.1
- Avoid: hunting for a frontage on the Lawnmarket. The pub is down a close inside James' Court.
What locals & experts say
- Time Out Edinburgh (2024): Dayna McAlpine, Arusa Qureshi and Chiara Wilkinson rank it ninth in
The 24 best pubs in Edinburgh
.4 - Time Out Edinburgh, on a venue page published in 2015 and carrying no byline:
Cosy little old-school basement pub tucked down a side street a stone's throw from Edinburgh Castle.
The same page notes thenotes of foreign denomination thumbtacked to the (rather low) rafters,
and that decade-old detail is the only description of the room any publication has run.5 - CAMRA Edinburgh & South East Scotland, in the venue record it maintains:
Comfortable small bar with an attractive painted ceiling just off the Royal Mile hidden down an Old Town close.
3 - CAMRA Edinburgh & South East Scotland (2026):
Cider Pub of the Year: 1st - Jolly Judge,
with the Dreadnought second, and3rd (joint) - Guildford Arms & Jolly Judge
for the Edinburgh pub title.1 - CAMRA Edinburgh & South East Scotland (2024):
1st Jolly Judge
for both Edinburgh Pub of the Year and Cider Pub of the Year.9 - Edinburgh Evening News (2024): Gary Flockhart's real-ale crawl of the city routes drinkers through
Jolly Judge (7 James Ct, Edinburgh EH1 2PB)
on the Royal Mile leg.7 - City of Edinburgh Council rated the premises Pass under the Food Hygiene Information Scheme, inspected 13 February 2009. That is the only inspection on the hygiene register, so it describes the pub of 2009 and says nothing current either way.8
Good to know
- Timing: noon to midnight Monday and Thursday through Saturday, noon to 11pm Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday. The pub's own site and the branch record agree on those hours.6
- Booking: walk-in.
- Getting there: down the close at 7 James' Court, off the Lawnmarket, two minutes from the Castle esplanade.
- The room: small, with tables out in the close for the overflow. Dogs are allowed inside and children are not.2
- Quiz: Mondays at 8.30pm, paused through the busiest weeks of August.6
- Hygiene: Food Hygiene Information Scheme Pass, inspected 13 February 2009. A pass, and seventeen years old.
Verdict
should-visit — CAMRA's Edinburgh and South East Scotland branch has voted this its Cider Pub of the Year in 2024, 2025 and 2026, and the same organization's Scotland and Northern Ireland region gave it the title in 2023. The bar keeps six ciders on rotation, which is why the vote keeps landing here. The cask side is not carrying it: Edinburgh Pub of the Year in 2024, second in 2025, joint third in 2026, on four changing lines with no regulars. Time Out ranks it ninth of the 24 best pubs in the city. It sits down a close off the Lawnmarket, minutes from the Castle, and almost nobody on that street finds it.