With the festival season just about upon us and the Old Town set to spring into life with renewed vigour, there’s no better time to visit two of Edinburgh’s most historic byways and their adjacent side streets. Not actually an official part of the City of Edinburgh until 1856, Canongate runs from Holyrood to St Mary’s Street and forms the lower part of the Royal Mile. Today it mixes historic buildings with more modern developments and is home to an eclectic array of shops, restaurants and cafes. Cowgate, meanwhile, occupies the lower level of Edinburgh’s Old Town beneath South Bridge and George IV Bridge. One of the oldest parts of the city, it is steeped in history and has played host to many of the urban myths and legends that have become essential to many tourists’ Edinburgh experience.
Connecting the two thoroughfares are St Marys and Blackfriars Streets, both home to unique and fantastic cafes, bars and shops that help make the area feel worlds apart from the chain stores and restaurants located elsewhere in the city.
The Caves
8-12 Niddry Street South, EH1 1NS, 0131 557 8989, www.thecavesedinburgh.com
Edinburgh’s Vaults, built under the arches of South Bridge during its construction in the late eighteenth century, have long been a testament to the determination and ingenuity of the city’s residents. Once workshops, store-rooms and even living spaces, the subterranean chambers to the south side of the Cowgate arch are now home to The Caves, one of Edinburgh’s most spectacular venues for weddings, club nights, private parties and more. Despite the installation of state-of-the-art lighting and sound systems, The Caves’ current owners have treated the vaults with an almost reverential respect, going to great lengths to integrate their historic character into the fabric of the modern venue.
Black Bo’s
57-61 Blackfriars Street, EH1 1NB, 0131 557 6136, www.black-bos.com
Already featured in our guide to Edinburgh’s vegetarian restaurants along with nearby David Bann, Black Bo’s is one of the city’s real gems, hiding behind an unassuming frontage on Blackfriars Street. Central to its charm is the cosy bar at street level adjoining the restaurant that stocks a staggering selection of beers and whiskies at very reasonable prices. The snug and intimate surroundings are perfect for having a good conversation with friends without having to shout over loud music and those in the mood for some al fresco drinking can retreat to the cobbled beer garden nestled away in the inspiring urban landscape of the Old Town.
The Old Children’s Bookshelf
175 Canongate, EH8 8BN, 0131 558 3411
Reputedly stocking the largest selection of second-hand children’s books in Scotland, The Old Children’s Bookshelf is a treasure trove for avid readers keen to relive the halcyon days of youth. The medium-sized shop is spread over two rooms, with the floor-to-ceiling shelves almost buckling under the weight of so many books. Titles are generally arranged by author, with popular series often getting their own shelf space, and stock ranges from antique hardback editions of classics to paperbacks, annuals and comics. Both girls and boys are well catered for and the shop also carries a range of biographies and research material for those keen to investigate their favourite authors further.
Empires
24 St. Marys Street, EH1 1SU, 0131 466 0100, empirescafe.wordpress.com
Empires, on St Mary’s Street, is a family run restaurant and tea house serving delicious traditional Turkish cuisine in a warm and welcoming environment. The bistro specialises in ‘meze’, the Turkish take on Spain’s tapas-style eating, allowing diners to choose from a selection of bite-sized dishes including stalwart favourites like falafel and mussaka. The meze menu is complemented by a choice of more substantial main courses, including full portions of vegetarian and lamb mussaka and various meat and fish dishes. Empires is strictly BYOB, leaving you free to enjoy the live musicians that often frequent the establishment without having to worry about the cost of your drinks.
Psychomoda
22 St. Marys Street, EH1 1SU, 0131 557 6777
Psychomoda is a cutting-edge Edinburgh boutique offering a bespoke dress-making service to customers and creating unique designs that are easily the rival of big name designers in the style and quality stakes. Psychomoda isn’t cheap but the materials used are of the very highest quality, with the shop particularly famed for using truly gorgeous fabrics, and each creation is both handmade and unique. Opening hours tend to be a little erratic so it’s often best to phone ahead if you’d like to come in and discuss a dress for that special occasion.
The Russian Shop
18 St. Marys Street, EH1 1SU, 0131 556 0181, www.therussianshop.co.uk
One of Edinburgh’s more eclectic arts and crafts emporiums, The Russian Shop brings a touch of Eastern European cultural majesty to the Old Town. All craft products are hand-made and hand-painted, beautifully decorated in traditional, bold Russian style. The Faberge pendants and stunning ceramics evoke the pomp and splendour of the late Russian Empire while icons produced by Russian Orthodox monks showcase the stunning religious artwork that has become one of the hallmarks of the Eastern Church. For those after something a little more fun and funky, The Russian Store stocks a huge range of hand-painted wooden bracelets, traditional nested matryoshka dolls and even a novelty chess set featuring Russian and American presidents facing off against each other.
Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe
145 Canongate, EH8 8BN, 0131 557 9220, www.scottishchristmas.com
Perpetually divisive, Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe and the nearby Nutcracker Christmas Shop just up the High Street split opinion in Edinburgh in a way only the ever-controversial tramworks can rival. While some locals love the all-year-round celebration of the festive season, hardened scrooges find glittering tree ornaments and rousing refrains of ‘Jingle Bells’ a little too much to stomach in the August heat. But for those keen to tap the Christmas spirit even in the height of summer, Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe sells a wide selection of decorations ranging from antique style pewter ornaments to tartan-themed Scottish pieces that arguably fall just on the wrong side of twee. Still, definitely a shop you’ll want to visit yourself to make up your own mind.
Sneaky Pete’s
3 Cowgate, EH11JW, 0131 225 1757, www.sneakypetes.co.uk
Lying close to where Cowgate joins the Grassmarket, Sneaky Pete’s is one of Edinburgh’s leading nightspots for lovers of indie, folk and acoustic music and a very welcome alternative to the glitzy clubs that abound elsewhere in the city. Compared to most night-time venues, Sneaky Pete’s is tiny, its interior dominated by the bar and stage with a small standing area/dancefloor squeezed in between the two. If anything, though, its diminutive size and intimacy only adds to Pete’s charm, with the atmosphere reaching truly electric levels during the regular live gigs. Visitors to the city won’t find a better place to get acquainted with Edinburgh’s flourishing music scene than Sneaky Pete’s.
Have we missed any of your favourite Old Town destinations? Let us know in the comments below.
