Waverly Bar

I have fallen head over heels in love with this bar in the last 2 days. Yes, that is all it takes to fall in love with this very traditional bar just off the Royal Mile.
I popped in here with my fiancée on my way back from Scran Salon 3 at Hemma and decided that I wanted a beer before we went home and this is where we ended up and I thank my legs for carrying me this way home as I’d had never known it was there.
Inside the décor is how a pub should like, red carpets, old mirrors that are stunning and the feel that you get when you walk through the door is «I’m home» which is an incredibly strange thing to say seeing as at this moment in time I have only been twice. I’ll explain why.
On Monday, in such a rush to get the bus, I had left my bag with work stuff and some books in and didn’t notice until I was off the bus and at the other side of Edinburgh, so I phoned the bar and they had already put it behind the bar and were looking after it for me. 2 of the gents that I got talking to had noticed the bag sitting there and had brought it to the attention of the bartender.
On going to get my bag on Tuesday, I sat with a pint and noticed the 2 gents from the night before, not only did they say hello and give me a little nod to show that they recognised me, they invited me over in to their group and started chatting to me as if they had known me forever.
An absolute gem of a pub that sometimes hosts folk singers during the festival (usually always free which is very generous in this current market) and as well as having my respect as an independently owned pub in the middle of the Royak Mile, it has my heart too. It might be at the other side of town from me but I have found a pub I could comfortably call my local.
Beautiful bar that holds exactly what you need, a few different pints and bottles and the spirits selection is what you need and misses out the other 100 brands of spirits that other bars stock and never seem to touch. On top of this I feel that the drinks are very reasonably priced.
This isn’t a showy bar and the customers aren’t either. Like the bar, the customers are happy, friendly and somewhat warming to the soul and an absolute pleasure to be around.

I’ve heard this pub have been going since the 60s, so it must be doing something right… It’s a bit of an Edinburgh institution and has an eclectic mix of your usual old men along side young artists and musos. The décor is a mishmash of old posters, rope screen, original furniture and a traditional large bar. There’s an additional bar area upstairs. Everything feels a little faded and dusty, like you’ve stepped back in time. The drinks on offer aren’t very extensive but you get them served in an old fashioned handled pint glass, which feels nice to drink out of. The best bit is the Great Gatspy jazz music that’s played, fits the place perfectly.

Even though the selection of beverages is not the largest the bar is very nice and the service both the girl serving and mainly the old men very likely owner were the nicest people i met in recent time. We came to the bar after awful dinner at nearby pub Rabbie Burns and this bar has amazed us. Prices of whiskey and beer are very reasonable. Will visit next time we come to Edinburgh for sure:)

Relaxed atmosphere. Great place to talk with friends or with the friendly staff. No TVs so you could chill out and read too. I had a very nice experience here.

I threw an event here– just an evening workshop– and I found the staff to be superfriendly, the soul to be in significant evidence, and any sort of BNP or political anything to be nonexistent. But, then, I don’t live in Edinburgh, so I don’t know what the reputation is.
If you come by during the day or early evening, you’ll be greeted by the owner, who’ll be pressed and dressed up most days. He may be a little hard of hearing and he may have forgotten that he’d let you the upstairs. That’s all right though. As long as it’s not going to get rowdy.
Upstairs is papered over with comedy fliers and dodgy wiring. You can imagine that this place looked the same (including some of the same dust!) in 1964.
This pub is brilliant. You’ll get a decent pint. The regulars are local, hones people out for a quiet-​ish drink. And it’s awesome. And it’s about 12 seconds’ walk from the Royal Mile.
I’ts grand.

The Waverley has never really been on my radar. That is, until the poetry geeks I know around Edinburgh decided to put on a, wait for it, poetry pub quiz session at the Waverley. Wow, it sometimes hurts to admit to the kind of people I like in this city. But yes, they organised a poetry pub quiz at the Waverley, and somehow, it worked. And no-​one left broken-​armed or black-​eyed. Surprisingly. Them poet-​types are sensitive souls, I hear, and sensitive souls get bullied by beer bellies, I hear. This may all be a gross assumption.
The atmosphere in this pub is ok. I was going to apply for a job here, once upon a time, but then get majorly put off by rumours about the staff being, to put it mildly, politically incorrect. I mean, I didn’t sense that at all when I was there, but I don’t want to put myself in the position where I’m exposed to it. So, sadly, I’ve never been back.

This is a quirky little pub that is great for a date or place to meet your mates. The owner is somewhat obsessed with the Royal Family so you’ve spot some odd pictures of the queen and family. The music ranges from Billie holiday, woody Guthrie to some sound track from a disney film. Best bit — they sometimes let you bring in your own food if they aren’t serving and also you get free crisps!

i was discussing this place with my friend last night and sghe agreed, its the only bar i have EVER been in where the space behind the bar is bigger than the seating area for customers! although all things considered they probably have it right, there were only two patrons and three bar staff so. was quiet impressed that they had free crisps, until i realised they were tesco white label and all tasted exactly the same. like beer. the beer tasted like prawn cocktail, never good in my experience and the toilets upstairs had the same effect as an air raid warning would have done, sent you flying back downstairs! ah its got a really unique feel to it this place has, like being thrown back a century or two, and the best thing was that they serve pints in tankard glasses. pints of what i can’t be sure, but they were definately pints!

It’s hard to say what keeps me (and my friends) going back to the Waverly. They have a total of two beers on draught, 1 being Guiness (good) and one being an unmentionable. A small selection of bottled beers. The usual spirits. And the trading hours of the bar are always questionable. There’s been enough times where we all decide to meet up there, at a reasonable hour (like 8pm) and its been closed. Then there’s the closing time of the bar itself– which seems to fluctuate at any random time between 9:30 — 1:00am. And this isn’t based on the amount of business going. I’ve seen a fully packed bar asked to up and leave, circa 10:00 pm. Barring all that, this is the place for characters. It is loved by a wide array of people– there are students– but those students who never quite fit in at university, there’s artists and drama types, there’s old age pensioners. The inside of the Waverly is properly bohemian: red walls and wallpaper of past Fringe shows– going back to the 70’s and possibly before– that’s the oldest one I happened to find in a chance glance about. There is a seating area upstairs with a fake fireplace and a broken organ in the corner. The toilets are a disgrace. The proprietor is an aged man with white hair– and its he who does the honours of booting you out, just when you’ve got cozy with your drink. He has a non-​ironic picture of the Queen and Prince Philip behind the cash register. As I said, characters abound. This is definitely not the place to go if you’re looking for a variety of ales or as assured evening. This IS the place to go, however, if you read Bukowski. Those who are readers of Bukowski will know what this means. It also is a rather nice bar to read a book in or jot down some writing. The bar is rather like the old man himself: curmudgeonly and unpredictable– being one for characters, I love it.