Malt & Hops – Jazz by the water
Plus a call for help identifying a photo from 1963.
Welcome back to Edinburgh Pub Reviews, back after a little Easter break. This week, we’re on the lovely Leith Shore. Scroll to the end for a photo from an Edinburgh pub from 1963 – I’m hoping someone might be able to help identify it.
It was a balmy Sunday. I’d missed the unfortunate news that The Trafalgar Tap, just off Ferry Road, had closed its doors and had a large For Sale sign in the window. So we continued up to Leith Shore to Malt & Hops for a drink in the brilliance of the spring evening.
Predictably, all the prime seats outside were taken, it being the perfect time of day to catch the sun by the water. We happily installed ourselves in the snug just inside the front door and settled down for a pint.
According to Camra, the pub dates back to 1747. Old maps show numerous pubs along the Shore, ready to welcome the wobbly sea legs of sailors stepping straight off their boats on to the dock. Camra also states the impressive decorations of hops which hang from the ceiling are renewed with fresh hop bines each harvest. They give the low-ceilinged pub – covered in old beer mats, pump clips, whisky jugs and other memorabilia – a bright, vibrant feel. There’s a large painting of the Shore above the fireplace, as well as a piano in the back.
Malt & Hops is always loud, and while the music could probably be turned down a touch, it brings a good atmosphere. (It’s equally lively in the winter, when the fire is often on.) The door swings back and forth as more customers stream through and take pints in plastic cups to enjoy on the waterfront, their legs hanging over the Water of Leith.
The beer is always good here, with at least six casks on. I opt for a Tyneside Blonde from the Hadrian Border Brewery. Beers from either side of the border are common here. We only planned to stay for one pint, but the promise of live music means we stay for another. I go for a pint of Murphy’s Stout – for my money a deeper, richer and more interesting cousin of the far more popular Guinness.
Then the jazz duo of guitar and trumpet start up, and this Sunday evening gets even better.
We eventually haul ourselves out the door as the sun sets, and a cold wind reminds us it’s April, not June. Luckily, the Malt & Hops is a pub for all seasons. It serves good beer, no gimmicks, the friendly staff match the lively customers – and now I know there’s live music on a Sunday, it won’t be long before I’m back there again.
Where is it?
Where next?
So many options around here – but why not support a local brewery and head to the Moonwake Taproom, or head to Campervan’s Lost in Leith for some craft beer by the water.
The Chaser – Do you know this pub?
Does anything in this photo look familiar? I’m hoping it might. The only information I have on it is its title: “A man dries his hanky in the pub. Grassmarket, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1963”. Can anyone out there help identify which pub it might be?
The photographer is Chris Morris, who documented the 60s in a series of amazing photos. Take a look at his shots of The Rolling Stones in 1963, or of black revolutionary (later convicted murderer) Michael X in his kitchen in 1967, or of director Jean-Luc Godard on the set of Sympathy for the Devil in 1968, on the Chris Morris Archive.
Morris died last year, and in his memory two of his sons recently ran the Lisbon Half Marathon, while raising money for Brain Research UK. As a thank-you for donating, Morris’s son Woody very kindly sent me some prints of his father’s work – including the Grassmarket pub above. I would love to help Woody identify which pub it is.
I know there’s not a lot go on, but if you can help, leave a comment, use the feedback form or email edinburghpubreviews@substack.com.
Is photo possibly McGonagalls Gin & Whisky Emporium on George IV Bridge when it was Scruffy Murphys around 2000 era it had that interior in the non bar half.
lovely 👍