The Roseburn Bar.

The Roseburn Bar

CAMRA counts one of the handpumps here as real ale on a technicality, because the Pilot keg behind it sits under a cask breather at atmospheric pressure.2

Why go

The room is the reason. CAMRA's Scottish heritage inventory grades this interior Regional Inventory Three Star as EDN/699, and it is the only Regional Inventory Three Star in the Edinburgh and Lothians block of 48 entries.1 Imran Rahman-Jones dates the corner building to the 1880s and lists what survives: high ceilings, multiple rooms, etched glass partitions, decorated columns and detailed plasterwork overhead.3 CAMRA adds booths down the walls, two separate lounge areas, mirrors and period photographs.

Murrayfield is a few minutes away and Tynecastle is not much further, so the pub runs on sport. The walls carry team photos, jerseys, trophies and medals from local football, rugby, golf and cricket clubs, and the televisions stay on with the volume down.2

Order this / avoid

• Order: the Jarl or the Pentland IPA, which are the two lines CAMRA logs as permanent.2 Pies and toasties are the entire food offer.
• Avoid: arriving expecting a beer list to explore. Rahman-Jones found four casks on and judged the keg pale ales and lagers to be carrying more of the load.3

What locals & experts say

• Imran Rahman-Jones, Edinburgh Pub Reviews (7 August 2024) on the cask: there are four casks on, serving Jarl and some Stewart brews. They are not the most imaginative offers, but reliable. On the building, he lists high ceilings, multiple rooms, etched glass partitions and calls the 1880s corner pub typical of its era, and is something Edinburgh does very well. He also notes it is pretty much the only decent pub in the immediate area.3
• CAMRA Scotland's Real Heritage Pubs inventory, edition of 15 May 2023: Regional Inventory Three Star, ref EDN/699. Twelve other Edinburgh and Lothians pubs hold a Three Star and every one of those is on the National Inventory, which makes this the only regional entry in the region at the top grade.1
• CAMRA Edinburgh & South East Scotland: runner up for Edinburgh Pub of the Year in 2022. That placing is recorded on the branch's own page for the pub; the 2022 results node was not read this pass.2

Good to know

• Timing: 11am to 11pm Monday to Wednesday and on Sunday, 11am to midnight Thursday to Saturday.2
• Booking: none to make. Walk in.
• Under 18s: not admitted.2
• Match days: Murrayfield and Tynecastle both empty into this end of town, and Rahman-Jones rates the Six Nations atmosphere here. Plan around it either way.
• Hygiene, and this one matters because there is food. The Food Hygiene Information Scheme rating is a Pass inspected 3 February 2012, fourteen and a half years ago, on a premises that serves pies and toasties. Treat it as missing information. Two Improvement Required rows sit further up Roseburn Terrace, at a convenience shop and a takeaway, and neither belongs to this operator or this door.4

Jeff's take (his words)

• Note: Not one of my saves.

Verdict

could-visit — CAMRA's Scottish heritage inventory grades this interior Regional Inventory Three Star, and reading the Edinburgh and Lothians block end to end shows it is the only one in the region at that grade. What that buys you is an 1880s corner room with high ceilings, etched glass partitions, decorated columns, booths down the walls and two lounges, plus walls of team photos, jerseys and medals from local football, rugby, golf and cricket clubs. There is a genuine oddity on the bar: CAMRA has ruled that one keg-dispensed Pilot beer counts as real ale in this pub because a cask breather keeps the gas blanket at atmospheric pressure. The beer itself is where the case stops. Imran Rahman-Jones found four casks on, Jarl and some Stewart brews, and called them reliable and short on imagination, and he judged that the pub leans on its keg pale ales and lagers. Go for the room, the sport and a walk along the Water of Leith. The hygiene rating on a premises that serves pies was inspected in February 2012.