please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Closed - coranavirus.
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Visited while on a brief visit to Edinburgh on Tornado. A varied range of beers brewed in Scotland not seen in North Yorkshire and all new to me. All good apart from one from Born in the Borders.
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Another petite-sized Edinburgh bar with just a single room. But what it lacked in quantity, it more than made up for in quality, especially with the ale selection - Pilot Archive Pale Ale, Northern Monk Black Session IPA, Weird Beard California Common, Tickety Brew Wit Bier & Jasmine Green Tea, Old Worthy Lost In The Dark & East London Brewery Foundation Bitter were all on. I remembering having a 7.5% beer from this selection. It was good. But I can't recall for the life of me which one it was. Another worthwhile Edinburgh pub.
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Read some recent comments about keeping it down if you are an Englishman. I my most recent visit, I don't think there was a single Scot in there. The barman was Australian and the rest of the Clientele were flatulent Germans.
Beer is always good, even if you don't know the brands.
A wonderful smell of Lapgroig managed to overpower the fellow euro-drinkers.
A great pub. Love it.
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Made a day trip to Edinburgh from Cheshire, 3 hour train journey, well worth it.
Staff consisted of a couple of Aussie lads, very knowledgable about beer - a couple of people who arrived after us weren't sure about what exact style of beer they wanted, and the lad who served them gave a quick description of each draught ale and the bottles they had in stock - they did their job well, to the evident approval of the customers. Good bar staff seems to be a characteristic of Edinburgh real ale pubs.
An enjoyable visit, and no sign of anyone in blue woad looking for englishmen!!!
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Was here probably the same day as the reviewer below and, even though English, got into conversation with a couple of people with no hassles at all regarding the recent vote and found the place to be very friendly indeed.
Anyway, to the beer: fantastic array of ales served by air pressure with a leaning towards the pale in particular. A whisky collection par excellence too. Some 220-odd apparently.
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A bewildering selection of whiskies and classic brewery adverts decorated throughout. Vintage feeling pub but with character. The beers veered towards the overly hopped American "craft" IPA variety but that could just have been our visit. The only downside was this appears to be a haunt of Scottish Nationalists so keep it down if you are English or have differing political opinions to the more staunch wing of the SNP.
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Dragged my GF in here back in April and had a great time. Cramped, yeh, but a good selection of ales. Still a good RA bar.
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Winter Beer Festival on when I called in yesterday afternoon. I had the Highland Long Way IPA, the Alechemy Panacea (7.5%) and half of the Green Jack Baltic Trader (10.5%). Lovely stuff, albeit on the strong side.
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Now after visiting 6 chosen pubs in Edinburgh in a day this was the best, narrowly beating the Blue Blazer.
I came in around 6.15pm and the place was already full to bursting. Standing room only and this was at a premium!
Around 10 ales on draught and a cracking Whiskey list then comes in book form as the menu. The young lad behind the bar was very knowledgeable and all of the staff were very attentive and happy..this makes a big difference in pubs.
Stunning interior with lots of wood and brewery mirrors.
Really is a top pub and defiantly worth the visit while in Edinburgh
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In a city chock full of excellent pubs real ale, this is indisputably the best. Ten ever-changing ales, the best pies this side of the black stump and excellent, knowledgeable bar staff. Nowhere I'd rather be for a quiet contemplative pint on a Saturday morning when the atmosphere is almost spiritual. Ten out of ten.
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Great pub, impressive range of beers from craft breweries both local and further afield. Two or three beers from Summer Wine when we visited.
Well informed staff, beautiful interior with lots of wood and mirrors. An absolute jewel!
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Popped in here last weekend, first time in a few years. Less seating than I remember but we caught one and enjoyed a few whilst watching/listening to the old Jazzers. I do recall there was something (Russian stout?) on tap at >10%?? Good bar; well worth a visit.
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Lovely pub. Loads of good beers, excellently kept (can't remember what I had) and a mind-boggling array of single malts, most of which I'd never heard of, served in a lovely tasting glass which does wonders to the aroma and flavour of a fine whisky. Very friendly atmosphere and helpful staff. Good banter and interesting convesations part-overheard. Wonderful old brewery mirrors adorn the walls. Didn't want to leave.
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One of the best - simple as that!
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Good pub, decent selction of beers including darks and a long list of bottled Belgians etc. Cask beers served by electric/air rather than handpump, bit different and makes for a slightly different taste. Characteristic shallow fixed tables, built for putting pints on. Pub arguably a tad tatty, but what the hell, it's what you get that is important.
PhilR - 12 Mar 2012 18:18 |
Visited this twice last week - once when very busy and once early doors. A great interior of wood, mirrors and pictures, good informed staff, excellent beer and intersting customers. A great place to sit and watch the world go by!
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I find myself in accord with most other reviewers of this pub, in that this is probably one of the finest - if not the best - boozer in the city. Albeit that my appearances here are rare and spread over many years, this has remained consistently excellent as a welcoming, clean, jolly and characterful hostelry where one is guarantee an array of very-well-conditioned cask ales (10 on my last visit and sourced from across the UK), and hundreds of single malts (not just the ubiquitous offerings but numerous quirky and hard-to-find options too). The ale wasn't too pricey either despite the pub's prominent Grassmarket location so beloved of tourists. The whisky though can reach up to around �20 a dram for the real rarities and older vintages. All are served with a friendly bit o' banter though and staff are sufficiently well-informed to advise you if needed, without being patronising or pompous about it. Some visitors were enjoying samples of various malts and plainly enjoying what the Bow has to offer. Didn't want to leave, but as ever there's always many fish to fry. But this is hard to beat and well worthy of a visit if you haven't already.
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Terrific pub. Great beer quality. No rip off prices, friendly well-informed staff. 9/10
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Still one of the best Pubs in Edinburgh...
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This pub is easily missed! We walked past it twice and we were looking for it! However once inside had a nice spacious feel and was not crowded We could easily find a table to sit at (this was on a Friday evening). Excellent selection of ales and impressive menu of whisky. If I had one criticism then it would be that the ales could have been a little cooler. This must have been one of the very few pubs I've been to recently that did not do food. Lets hope it survives!
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Impossible to walk past. Impossible to get a seat! I ended up getting a free standing chair and sat like a loon in front of the fire. One of my favourites in the country and on the way down to a couple more favorites as well.
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Lovely old fashioned pub with large victorian windows in pretty street. Great selection of ales and whiskies, friendly staff and ambient atmosphere (contemplating a quiet pint while reading paper on Saturday afternoon). On my visit I particulalrly enjoyed Brysons Westmorelandand Glencoe Wild Oat Stout.
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This is a great pub. The service is excellent, the pub itself full of character and welcomes a good mix of people. The whisky selection is good (quite expensive?) and the ale selection is also good (more reasonably priced, but about �3 a pint depending). The ale itself is well looked after - I had 3 different pints and all had great flavour. Well worth a visit.
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A superb proper pub. The sort of place where you can actually sit down and read a book or newspaper, or hold a conversation without having to shout. Being able to enjoy a range of excellent real ales is, it may sound ridiculous to say, a bonus. But the ale is the unique selling point - it really doesn't need anything more.
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Lively, friendly & 'beardy' place with an enticing range of ales from across the UK. Character abounds and the Castle Rock 'Harvest Pale' was an intriguing alternative to the Deuchars we'd been generally stuck with elsewhere. Recommended.
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Fantastic pub for the real ale enthusiasts. No music or gaming machines just the buzz of conversation. Fantastic range or ales and whiskies. A must visit when in the area.
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Fantastic real ale spot , friendly knowledgable staff, punters friendly if leaning to the old man side - good selection of whiskys.
No music , no frills , but does what it says on the till .
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Famous traditional Old Town boozer close to (but a million miles from in spirit) the crowded and touristy pubs of the Royal Mile and the Grassmarket. It's one room is basic but packed with character as the pub boasts some of the best brewery mirrors in the city, and they, along with old railway maps, cover almost every part of the wall, and come from all over the UK. The furnishing is reassuringly traditional with small narrow wooden tables that can barely accommodate 4 glasses. The real aler here is dispensed through the traditional Scottish font system which can cause alarm to some who haven't encountered this before-they look like keg dispensers initially but fear not! Be sure to ask the bar staff about this interesting method of dispensing real ale. 6 beers are on offer, always Deuchars and Trade Winds plus guests from Scottish microbreweries and further afield. Also one of the best selections of malt whiskeys in the city. This is one of the must visit pubs in Edinburgh and a visit is highly recommended.
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Excellent, unspoilt bar. Welcomes a wide-ranging clientele with a wide range of real beer. Recommended.
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This is a great place if you want to escape the hustle and bustle of Edinburgh. There's nothing flashy about the Bow bar, it's just a fine drinking establishment. Up to 8 real ales available. I had an excellent pint of Stewart's 80 shillings on my last visit at �3 a pint. A great place to unwind after a hard day.
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Exactly as I was hoping, this gives it to you straight. No music, no gimmicks, just handpumps(from some very interesting micros in addition to the big names), whiskies(and then some!) and a good group of regulars. Doesn't at all feel like a 'city' pub either. Result
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Another visit to Edinburgh to do the GBG pubs. This superb pub cannot be missed off an Edinburgh crawl. Found there was a beer festival on so it was busy but enjoyed 3 new real ales here.
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The Bow was a quiet refuge from am Edinburgh rub scene dominated by places full of drunken football supporters, noisy tourists and blaring televisions.
Several real ales were on tap and well looked after. The staff were courteous and there was no sign of the real ale bores who are sometime present. Well worth visiting.
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Late comment from August. Enjoyed a Hop Back and George Wright beer here.
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Excellent range of beers, and I always make a point of having one there when I'm in Edinburgh.
The only irritation is the smug barman (the fat balding one) who isn't as clever as he likes to think he is.
Oh, and it's a whisky drinker's paradiise too.
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Just can't like this place. Tendancy for the clientele to have an ale snob feel yet they put up with a mediocre pancake flatness to the beer.
I just don't get the fuss. There are better pints to be had in Edinburgh.
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Enjoyed the decor and had a lovely pint of dark munro in here. Shame about the laconic person who served me. Perhaps its a locals only pub?
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One of the better real ale pubs in town. No jukebox equals a quieter clientelle. OK so it feels like an old fashioned railway waiting room, but this is a beer drinkers dream. A trip to Edinburgh isn't complete without a little visit to the Bow Bar.
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Brilliant pub. Great selection of beers, attentive staff, great atmosphere...I'll be back!
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Escellent drinkers Pub just of Grassmarket and the Royal Mile with an excellent selection of Whiskies and Ales. Very quiet when we wwnt in. lots of mirrors, and a framed certificate naming the Pub as one of the top 50 Malt Whisky bars in Scotland
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Basic single bar drinkers pub in the old part of Edinburgh, not too far from the more tourist orientated pubs in Grassmarket. The pub had the best collection of old brewery and whisky mirrors that I encountered during my all too brief recent visit to Edinburgh.
The bar sports no handpumps - but worry out, the beer is served by an Air Pressure system apparently unique to Scotland, which manifests itself in an series of tall gleaming fonts. Yes it's real ale !.
There was a good range of real ales on - amongst the usual suspects was Dark Star Espresso Beer, which I imagine tastes like coffee. I had the Pentland IPA, a typically hoppy lightish coloured IPA.
The pub boasts that it offers more than 150 malt whiskies, but most customers seemed to be drinking one of the real ales
You could do a lot worse than seek out this friendly drinkers pub next time you're in Edinburgh
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Always pay a visit to the Bow Bar on a trip to Edinburgh. Great selection of real ales and single malts. Ideal for the real ale enthusiast. Also, nobody under the age of 40 seems to go in there, hence the lack of TV, fruit machines & juke box. Great.
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Great place to while away the hours between lunch and when people leave work. Excellent Belhaven 80/-, and about 6 other rotating beers in excellent condition. Can get a bit busy later on, so go early if you want a seat.
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Yup, would endorse all the good things. Real ale from font taps or high fountains (call them what you will) is lovely, not sure why it's so scarce even in Edinburgh. The only problem with this place is its proximity to Stag and Hen night hell (the Grassmarket) but close your eyes and think beery thoughts and they'll soon bugger off, leaving the pub to get on with being an excellent pub.
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What an excellent pub! Quite small but welcoming for a couple of occasional Edinburgh visitors. Friendly staff and good beer.
Why can't pubs where I live be like this?
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Period Scots boozer. All you would expect, especially if your expectations are a decent beer range. No handpumps here, beer is dispensed from font taps by air pressure just like the old days. I like to see them but appreciate that they can be confused with the dreaded fizz taps. On display are some enamel beer adverts which will mock the smoker as he compulsorily steps outside for a drag.
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The Bow Bar, still a favourite of mine many happy memories from 1992-1995, had a chance to pay a visit a few months ago, still basically the same it always have been, a bastion to Good Beer and a friendly welcoming atmosphere.
If you are looking for a chance to drink good beer, sample a large range of Malts, or just sit back and detach yourself from the world then this is the place to go.
Food is limited to Pies and Bridies during lunchtime and crisps and nuts for the remained.
No pool tables or juke box or fruit machines, subscribes to the idea that the �background noise/music� is the sound of conversation and the entertainment is the customers themselves
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Sadly �The Vicar� is no longer in residence has gone onto a better place, but still retains almost all of its old charm.
Missing the massive safe in the corner, anyone know what happened to it?
Would like to point out the statement by Aig_Wilson is slightly incorrect in the timeline but it does still stick all of the boxes.
It was Blue Blazer then The Bow Bar then The Cumberland, and now, (I will not include The Globe, shudder) Thompson�s Bar.
weebs - 16 Apr 2006 23:00 |
Great pub, situated in the heart of Edinburgh's Old Town.
Good range of guest ales, great range of whiskies.
Good, wholesome, simple bar food, all reasonably priced and designed not to get in the way of the important ale drinking.
Thoroughly recommended
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The Bow Bar shows that with a bit of time and money and love and care you can create a "proper" Edinburgh boozer from scratch. Mr Fraser's earlier works at the Blue Blazer and the Cumberland were just the warm-up for thi brilliant little pub. It ticks all the boxes.
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Best real ale & malt whisky pub in Edinburgh! A victim of it's own success this place can get really busy and especially at weekends it's standing room only.
Still the best though, the staff are decent and there are usually enough of them that you don't have to wait too long to get served. The decor may be old fashioned but at least it's unique- a good collection of old pub mirrors are real old school tables screwed to the floor. A good rotation of guest beers & a 'Malt of the Month' offer mean you're always spoilt for choice at the Bow.
Not to be missed.
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Dedicated to two of the finest drinks available - Real Ale and Whiskey, making the atmosphere inside a joy. The whole place is dedicated to enjoying the drink with no distractions except for a newspaper rack and the buzz of other conversations. Also near to some great eateries and serves a mean pint of stout as well. A must for a Real Ale crawl!
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A must-visit for atmosphere and beer quality, though will get very crowded at times.
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Good selection of beers in a well set out bright room with decent memoribilia .Appears to attract the dedicated drinker whose main interest is the beer quality-which was excellent.Has the narrow rectangular tables which probably rules out changing it to a food pub(unless its a choice of french bread or baguette...).
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For a Norwegian visiting this one room pub early on a Friday afternoon is like heaven. Just a short walk from The National Library of Scotland I could step inside this splendid ale drinkers place. Brilliant range of real ales served by a knowledgeable staff. At my last visit I had some good pints of Isle of Arran Ale and from Fyne Ales.
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Its great strength is the absence of anything to distract from the serious business of drinking. The only noise is the buzz of conversation. Seriously good on ale and whisky.
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Loads of whisky to chose from and a good range of guest and regular ales all served by decent barstaff. One of the best places in the city for a real pint in a real pub.
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Fabulous Whiskey Gantry and a good pint. Bar staff attentaive and a bit weird. Well worth a visit.
Betty Ford - 21 Oct 2004 11:25 |
7 ales to choose from (and another from England) with a excellent tourist position just off/underneath the royal mile meant we kept gravitating there. A useful meeting point when you split up. Lunches are simple toasties or steak pies with gravy (no neepes or tatties). Odd sized tables keeps wasted space to a minimum
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A visit to Edinburgh in rainy October was perhaps a bad move, but this place made it great. A lovely pub with excellent range of real ale and whiskey, the bar man was very friendly and they served Sqaure crisps - sign of true quality. Spent a very happy afternoon here hiding from the rain and watching the world go by. Definately worth a visit.
Sal - 18 Jun 2004 12:04 |
This has a great location between the Royal Mile and the many pubs along Grassmarket. A small one roomed pub which caters well for the real ale drinker having 4-6 ales on, most of them guests which turn over regularly. They were advertising a beer festival starting 20th November with 30-40 beers but unfortunately I had to leave Edinburgh before then.
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