The Ormelie Tavern – Come for the beach, stay for the beer
A very nice Sunday spent in Portobello.
What’s it about?
It was a perfect January Sunday. Temperatures were close to zero, but the bright day took the edge off the bitterness. A couple of friends called – they were going on a walk to Portobello, would I like to join?
An hour later and we were descending a rocky path to the westernmost side of the beach. With the tide out, the sun bounced off the wet sand. We were criss-crossed by excited dogs and kids attempting to launch kites in the breeze. A few brave swimmers chugged back and forth.
After wasting a couple of quid at the arcades, it was time for a pint. A quick Google brought up the Ormelie Tavern, further east along the High Street in the Joppa neighbourhood. Happily, the ten-minute walk went via the chippy. Sadly, it also passed by some staples of many seaside resorts: two pubs which had shut down and the boarded-up windows of the old bingo hall.
The Ormelie retains much of its turn-of-the-century charm. It has a beamed ceiling, red seating and carpet and a handfull of rooms to choose from. Framed pictures on the wall show Portobello as it used to be. Thankfully, the Tavern doesn’t seem to have changed much since then.
Two Stewart brews and a Timothy Taylor’s Landlord made up the cask selection, with the beer in good condition and helped along by a sparkler on the tap. A decent whisky selection complemented this. A few TVs allowed us to keep half an eye on the football but don’t worry if that’s not your thing – the tellies don’t dominate the place or overbear the atmosphere. In fact, the commentary wasn’t even on.
So that’s the Ormelie. Nice enough if you’re in the area, without blowing you away. I don’t give ratings in these reviews – but given we found the place on Google, it’s worth saying that its Google rating of 4.3 stars feels about right.
Where is it?
Where next?
I must admit, I’m not familiar with the pubs of Porty. So please leave a comment with your own recommendations.
But I will tell you where we went after The Ormelie. We caught a bus back into Leith, alighting at The Links Tavern to catch the late Sunday kickoff on TV. A proper old-school boozer (though no cask), it felt like a local’s pub should feel. The regulars may have felt an informal ownership of the place, but they were happy to share it with outsiders. One man said he’d been a regular for 60 years. While the neighbourhood had transformed unrecognisably, he said, The Links Tavern had hardly changed. And later that evening, another customer walked in with a case full of show pigeons. We learned that people come from as far as Glasgow to admire, buy and sell each others’ birds. Which, to be fair, were pretty impressive.
The only pub I've been to in Porty is the Espy (on the Esplanade), which I'd highly recommend. The food's good, too.