This photo of Cumberland Bar is courtesy of TripAdvisor
Two of our favourites are the Bailie in Stockbridge, where we met a very good friend for a meal and the Cumberland Bar in the New Town where we had a drink after our tour round Arthur's Seat.
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| great real ales and lovely wood bar |
Back in the late 1980's we lived in Edinburgh and this was one of the pubs we used to visit regularly. Then it was called The Tilted Wig. It has always had a nice beer garden -- a rarity in Edinburgh and thankfully, when it became the Cumberland it retained its nooks and snug as well as the larger room with an open fire which give it, we feel, a lovely atmosphere. The only downside of going to the Cumberland is that it can be busy; especially during the summer. It has a claim to fame as it was immortalised in the 44 Scotland Street novels written by Alexander McCall Smith.
Oddly enough a friend of ours who lives close by to us here in Touraine was also in Edinburgh at the same time. Chatting to her at work after we came back I found out that she too is a fan of the Cumberland Bar and had popped in for lunch while on her visit. Small world :-)!
13 comments:
I do like a nice old-fashioned pub, especially since the smoking ban. Not that we visit one very often, but we still have our favourites too. Glad your trip as so enjoyable.
A pub with a fire...that takes me back!
The Cumberland Bar sounds super...and I liked the idea of the driver's beer too.
Arcadia!!
@Perpetua - visiting a 'proper' pub is one of the enjoyable 'extras' to seeing family and friends.
'Fly - I usually drink diet coke and have a sip of whatever ale/beer Niall is having but this was 3% and had taste so I had a half.
@Tim - oh yes a proper real ale pub [Black Isle Blond is the house ale] and friendly. There was a single lady tourist, a chap beavering away on a laptop and two other couples: 1 young, one older and then us, so a goodly mix.
Ate in Arcadia, ego... Well, had a half of Westmoreland Gold when in the aforementioned watering hole in Leeds two weeks ago. Same ambience and good conversation. How come "British Pubs" ouside Btitain are so awful?
The kind of establishment that doesn't easily translate itself to France. Just the right place for a pint and a meal. I'm not particularly keen on beer but I am partial to a nice dry cider.
Isn't life full of coincidences?
When you return, Gaynor...
I recommend the Valderance range of cidre in it's Brut(e) form....
very nice, only 4.5% ABV and with a lot of complexity and a good long-lasting, post mouthful flavour!!
@Pauline - I suppose because they can only imitate the real thing, and the real thing is as much about culture as anything else.
@Gaynor - they had a selection of ciders on tap too :-)
The pub is becoming a rarity as so many have closed.
Round here a lot of the pubs are what my mother would call "fighting pubs" and most of the rest are cheap pub restaurant chains, serving the "two for £10" meal deals.
Quite a few are principally restaurants pretending to be pubs, i.e. the tables are all set for dining and there's nowhere to sit and just have a drink. If you're lucky they will have a small corner tucked away for the drinkers. It's interesting that many pubs have become Chinese or Indian restaurants.
Provided we are prepared to drive a few miles we can find a few pubs that still have a bar where you can pop in for a chat and a pint and get good old fashioned pub bar food.
There was a TV series last year about food hygiene (the poor standard thereof) in pubs and restaurants and some of the small independent pubs had freezers full of Tesco and Morrisons ready meals.
Oh those English pubs! (And Scottish ones of course!) I missed having a pub meal when we first came here but now I don't miss, I suppose because our lifestyle has changed so much. Plus our local supermarket has just got a coffee shop on the premises so we can have coffee and cake, which sort of makes up not sitting in a pub! Well, sort of.....
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