The Standing Order
A Wetherspoon pouring in the Union Bank of Scotland's grade A banking hall on George Street, and Jeff's own call for the big cheap central room with atmosphere.
Why go
The building is the reason to walk in. J D Wetherspoon runs this pub inside the former Union Bank of Scotland, a grade A listed banking hall designed by David Bryce between 1874 and 1878 in a neo-classical style and finished by his nephew John, and the pub takes its name from the banking.2 A Wetherspoon is the same cheap round in every city, which is normally the argument against one; here the argument for it is drinking that round under a bank's ceiling between the Assembly Rooms and Castle Street. No critic has reviewed it, and Jeff's call is the recommendation this page stands on.
Good to know
- Address: 62-66 George Street, between the Assembly Rooms and Castle Street.
- Booking: walk-in.
- Groups: the hygiene record files it as a pub, bar and nightclub premises, which at this address means a big room, and a Wetherspoon floor absorbs a group with no plan. That is the practical case for it.
- Hygiene: Food Hygiene Information Scheme Pass, inspected 6 June 2024, FHRSID 92109. Twenty-six months old.1
- Beer and price: the operator publishes its menu and app ordering on its own site; no independent source has written about what this branch pours. I do not publish opening hours.
Jeff's take (his words)
His recommendation arrived later, in conversation (2026-08-10): "the standing order for cheap and cheerful drinks and atmosphere."
Verdict
listed — A large chain pub on George Street that the register passed in June 2024 and about which nothing else is published in any source this project accepts. A full-text scan of the crawl store on 7 August 2026 found other George Street venues and nothing on this one. The name and the address invite an obvious story about a converted banking hall, and because nobody has published that story, this entry does not tell it either. What is verifiable is that it is open, it is on the New Town's main shopping street among the Assembly Rooms and a steakhouse, and its last inspection was twenty-six months ago. It is on the list as a known quantity: cheap, central, large enough for a group that turned up without a plan. It is not a recommendation.