The Percy - You won’t find food like this in any other pub
The Percy - You won’t find food like this in any other pub
Beautiful pub, beautiful menu.
Update February 2024
I recently learned that The Percy isn’t as old as I had assumed from its interior. In my original review (below), I called it a Victorian pub. In fact, it’s only been a pub for 50 years. So while it would have been around for some of the “old Leith”, it certainly wasn’t there at the same time as Queen Vic. We have previous owner Kevin Doyle to thank for the pub’s Victorian-style interior, after he did it up meticulously in the early 1990s. Anyway, it’s still a beautiful pub and I stand by it being some of my favourite food in Edinburgh.
Read more about the restoration of the pub in Michael Slaughter’s article in Pints of View, the Edinburgh Camra magazine. (PDF, page 10)
Here’s the original review…
What’s it about?
I wasn’t here to see the old Leith. Before the tram works, the coffee shops and the vintage retailers. I definitely wasn’t here in the Trainspotting era. But The Percy was. At the bottom of Easter Road, just before you hit the Links and opposite the big Tesco, sits this grand Victorian pub.
Can a pub be both big and cosy? That’s what The Percy is. I associate it with a crisp winter’s day, coming in out of the cold and being welcomed into a bustling atmosphere. Entering a space with a large mahogany central bar, etched glass mirrors, leather booths – and a homely, comforting food menu.
But first, the beer. By calling it “reliable”, I don’t mean to damn it with faint praise. What I mean to say is that it’s always well-kept. There are two or three ales on cask. Each time I’ve been in, one of them has been from Stewart Brewing, which rarely lets you down. There’s a good rotation of other pints on alongside that. Last time I was in I had a Newbarns Pale Ale. The pub clearly knows what it’s doing – you’re not going to find an imperial stout or a salty Gose. But you will find something good on cask, nice and clear, with a decent head on it. That’s not something you can say of a lot of pubs.
What you’re really here for, though, is the food. The place was taken over by Polish owners in 2015, and with that came a new menu. Alongside the standard good-quality pub food, a second page offers pierogi, goulash, pork chops and breaded chicken. Warm up with a soup (on Sundays they do a three-meat consommé). Definitely get a smalec for the table: A staple of Polish bars, the paté-like fatty pork is spread on bread and cut through by beautiful tart, briny pickles.
Then move on to the grilled pork neck and roast potatoes or the pork schnitzel with mash and sour cabbage. You won’t be hungry after this – and I warn you, the portions are massive – but dip into the pub menu anyway and share a portion of the haggis-loaded fries. And make sure you get some extra pickles on the side.
Sit back in a food-induced haze and contemplate the history of this place. Leith is changing, fast. I imagine that this pub has sat staunchly through it all. But modernisation doesn’t have to be all bad. When it preserves the British pub while adding something new from elsewhere, I’m OK with it. After all, the motto of the town – which also gives The Percy its proper name – is one word: Persevere.
The chaser
I think the warm and wholesome menu lends itself to a cold winter’s day, but The Percy is great all year round. This summer, I went to a Sunday evening quiz, which is fun if you don’t take quizzes too seriously. Points were given out for the most enthusiastic table and repeat quizzers had tokens which they could redeem for extra points next time. I was pretty pleased with a top-half finish.
Where is it?
Attached to the main pub room is a proper restaurant serving the same menu, if that’s more your thing.
