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Location: 19 W Register St, Edinburgh EH2 2AA
Year of Inscription: 2024
Venue Type: Historic Tavern / Oyster Bar / Heritage Venue
Map
Description
Gallery
| EBG Rating: | 7.7/10 |
| Choice/ Quality of Drinks | ❤️❤️❤️❤️ A broad selection of options from beer, wines, cocktails and whiskies. Tap options for beers are reasonably good given the format. |
| Style/ Décor | ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Beginning as a showroom for gas and sanitary fittings, it was not long until – like so many heritage venues in Edinburgh – it had been repurposed into a bar. Heavily redesigned in 1901 from its original 1860 appearance, a corner entrance leads to a lavish open plan room with central bar and booth seating. Eyecatching painted tiles from various inventors and scientists feature on the walls which had previously been used in technological exhibitions, but compliment the space as though they were intended for it. Towards the rear behind a walnut panel partition is the famous ‘Oyster Bar’ with its superb stained glass and marble counter that would be worth popping in to see even if you weren’t intending to stay for a drink. |
| Atmosphere/ Character | ❤️❤️❤️❤️ A sense of light novelty pervades as you are surrounded by this highly unusual and decorative work of art, which adds a frisson of excitement and exclusivity to the experience. Some of this is superficial and so when you strip that away and experience it as a social and drinking venue, it is much like being in a popular, bustling city tavern. |
| Amenities/ Events | ❤️❤️ Food, snacks, newspapers |
| Value For Money | ❤️❤️ Among the city centre’s more expensive drinking venues, although not extortionate. |
| Description | Return to the days where the ornate, the lavish and luxurious was not simply the reserve of the ultra rich but a proud, fountaining exhibition of craftwork and achievement hewn by and shared with the general public. Café Royal is one of the UKs most impressive lavish Victorian drinking venues with some frankly astonishing interior features which have been preserved and well-maintained. The stained glass in the rear Oyster Bar dazzles like the stained glass window of a cathedral, while the island bar and painted tilework lends a sense of novelty and exclusivity which makes the place a fun visit, although it won’t be to everyone’s tastes. Moving onto more down to earth topics, you’ll find a reasonable range of cask ales from smaller independent Scottish breweries, decent selection of wines, whiskies and cocktails befitting a versatile venue that is less snobbish than it may initially appear. Stripping back the adornments and focusing just on the bare bones of the experience, it is a superior version of going for a drink in a bustling institution of a city tavern. The fact it adds to that is to its credit. Make sure you bring plenty of money though. |
