The Oxford Bar — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

No food for us, just a quick one for the road after a tour of a few drinking establishments in Edinburgh.

From the front door, you walk straight into a room with the bar on your left, a seating area with a few tables on your right, and a further small table ahead. I didn't explore deeper to see if there was more seating elsewhere. The bar area was comfortably full, with a variety of friendly patrons with the barman expertly managing the needs of all whilst welcoming us. A great range of ales available and a good selection of spirits.

The establishment is nicely lit, courtesy of large windows on the front of the building, and whilst cosy and fairly busy, we quickly found a table to continue our conversation in comfort.

I'm not sure how easy it would be to get in with a wheelchair (there may be a rear entrance).

One thing that struck me was suitability in a zombie apocalypse. The windows felt to be fairly high from the road side (although I had had a few by this point) which would be a useful positive for defence as the Zs couldn't just fall into the building like most of these new cafes bar places, but there was certainly sufficient large tables to ensure you could barricade easily. Entrances both front and back within clear sight of each other means you can avoid surprise flanking although it does have the problem of being overrun in one wave, but the reduced space may mean your choice of weapon is restricted to shorter bludgeon types. Likely to be a good range of snacks to tide over a small group...

The prospect of a visit to old faithful Oxford Bar before heading to SMWS had me salivating for days beforehand. The day turned out to be hot and muggy so my longing for a nice cold pint of Deuchars IPA to quench the thirst was growing with each step along the cobbles of Young St. The front bar was busy with half a dozen regulars and my companion was sat alone in the back room, ales already waiting. A blissful hour or so seemed a certainty. Alas it was not to be! The building next door to the Ox has been converted to an ‘Aparthotel’ drawing to the area groups of Stag and Hen parties. No sooner had I taken my first long quaff of the golden beer and in came a group of lads intent on making the back room their ‘pitch’ for the next few hours. The peace shattered, voices raised, thinking curtailed the beer seemed to have soured. A quick blether with a regular at the bar gave me the information that weekends at the Oxford Bar are no longer what they used to be. The short stay accommodation next door is suffocating the atmosphere from the old man, even if the till might be bulging a bit more. I still love the Ox but I might avoid a Fri or Sat evening...

Proper old school pub. Tucked away off of the busy tourist routes, handy to get away for a good pint of well kept and properly pulled cask ale. We popped in for no other reason than my friend's love of the "Rebus" detective novels as no doubt many other people do. Glad I did though because it is a little oasis away from the madness of Princess St. At least it was during the late afternoon when we visited. Couple of locals in the otherwise empty back room were friendly and chatty and we were made to feel welcome. Only gave 3 stars because we only had a couple of jars then left. Next time will stay longer to hopefully up the...