Halfway House — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

My sister and I ran into this pub to use the toilet, she used it first, but as I have toilet issues (IBS), i asked my sister to please hurry as I was going to soil myself. In the urgency she opened the door to the singular cubicle the pub has to offer and let me in to do my business as she fixed her tights and long embellished skirt as I finished up. Once we left we wanted a soft drink but the barman refused to serve us on account of us both being in the same cubicle at one time. I understand why he said this- drug use at the moment is absolutely rife, I work in a small town bar myself so I know.

But suffering with what I do, and after being embarrassed like that in front of an intimate pub setting, plus my knowledge of bar staffs ideas being unshaken even in the face of customers reasoning, I didn’t even bother to dispute. I just left embarrassed. I do think writing this would hopefully help someone else in my situation. Nobody should soil themselves waiting for their family member to finish using the solitary toilet on offer- out of fear of not being served at the bar. Was disappointing to be honest, as the last time I was here the pub reeked of urine, but I gave it a second chance this time, and I was proved wrong as a result. I hope the bar staff see this and realise that their unwelcoming attitude should be given with factual knowledge rather than just their...

Very odd experience at Halfway House 2pm on 19/09/24 - First time in my life I was refused service because I apparently had “difficulty opening the entrance door”. I had previously had one glass of wine with lunch, an hour earlier. Thought I would pop in for a pint before catching the train home. Looked through the window before entering into the pub, with only about 4 or 5 other people inside thought it was nice and quiet, and so I approached the bar and ordered my pint. “Not today”, came the reply. I asked if the beer was off? The reply left me speechless. “No, it looked like you had difficulty opening the door”. Quickly departed and headed down to Brewhemia where I enjoyed excellent service and a very good pint of Stewart’s lager. Avoid the Halfway House. Very odd. If I was the licensee, I would be checking on my bar staff, something not...

It may have been the day, but there was no food. When we asked about food we were told by Bruce "it's a pub there is no food" when all of the reviews had pictures of food. I also asked what his favorite beer was, and was told "I don't know, tennents? Order something" we were with family, and We were all paying together, so when I asked what they would want he replied "let's hurry it up I've got people waiting". There were two other groups in the pub and one of them wanted some water. The local man replied "no no it's okay! I'm in no rush".

Needless to say it was the most unwelcoming expirience of our whole trip. We planned a pub crawl route and I picked this one because they had a gay pride flag in the window. Wanted to support welcoming open minded businesses on our trip and felt a little left in the cold on this...