The Grapes – Dinnae be a fanny
There's only one rule at The Grapes.
There’s a simple instruction which sums up the atmosphere at The Grapes. It’s on the chalkboard when we visit on a Saturday afternoon and is entitled Rule #1. As far as I can tell, it’s the only rule. Stick to it, and you’ll get on alright here: Dinnae be a fanny.
We’re happy to follow it, as is everyone else at the pub. It’s the kind of place where every fella who walks in is greeted by people sitting at about three different tables. (And I mean fellas – there are no women here when I visit.)
The pub is set out to for conversation. The front room is lined by benches with no chairs in the middle. That way, nobody sits with their back to the others, encouraging chat among the tables. We sit down and are invited into the conversation by strangers.
The regulars tell us how this is one of the few pubs left like this, where you can sit with a quiet pint, just watch the football, or get involved in a group conversation. The pints are cheap, the malt of the month is cheap. There are other pubs like this dotted around Edinburgh and Leith, but The Grapes stands out because of its location in the heart of studentland.
It’s ostensibly an Irish pub, advertising Craic, Malts, Guinness and Banter outside, leaning in with a Celtic font for its sign. Inside are a few old Guinness posters among the other memorabilia, which also includes black and white pictures of other Edinburgh pubs. I’m also intrigued by the large china elephant in the corner.
I don’t go for a whisky or a Guinness, because this is one of the few pubs which does Younger’s Tartan Special. It’s a malty keg bitter with vanilla notes, and costs well under a fiver. It’s rare in Edinburgh.
When I first started this newsletter, The Grapes was one of the first suggestions I got. I never knew if the guy who recommended it was joking or not. I’d heard it had a bit of a “reputation”. I know the atmosphere is different in the evening, especially at weekends. But on a Saturday afternoon, it’s got a friendly vibe.
As we get up to leave, our new friends tell us we must return. We must have kept within Rule #1, then. Don’t worry, we say. We’ll definitely be back.
Where is it?
Where next?
Cask and Barrel Southside is just round the corner. I did a mini review of it last week.
Or, head further south to the beautiful John Leslie’s Bar.
The chaser – More money woes
Two articles to share with you this week. The first is from Katie Mather, an editor at online beer magazine Pellicle.
Mather makes the obvious, but underreported, point that hospitality is struggling because no one’s got any cash. We can talk about taxes, business rates, the Budget or smoking bans all we want. But in the end, the demand side is just as important at the supply side. The biggest threat to pubs is that we can’t afford to go out as often as we’d like. The drop in pub numbers didn’t start during the pandemic. It started after the financial crash.
We can tell the government we want all kinds of financial support for pubs and bars, but I think we need more than that. What’s the point of saving a pub if it stays empty on a Friday night? Everyone needs a weekly stipend to spend in their locals, on whatever they want. I’m only half joking. Imagine Eat Out To Help Out, but better…
My second recommendation is a look at the whisky industry from Henry Jeffreys. He warns we may be about to hit a whisky recession – in fact, we may already be in it. Whisky takes about a decade to make, which means it’s very slow to react to what’s going on in the rest of the world. The industry may have been a little hasty a few years ago, and the result is distillers closing.
Even as late as 2022 when anyone with any ounce of sense could see there was major financial trouble coming round the bend, the Scotch whisky industry was expanding.
That’s it for this week. Hopefully next week’s chaser will be a little more positive.
A continued thanks to anyone who has donated to Edinburgh Pub Reviews. It’s been lovely to read the notes you have left alongside the tips. Some people have even told me they’ve visited new pubs off the back of the reviews – keep supporting your local!