No room at the inn.I was expecting to give this pub a good review. The lads have been going for regular TNDs (Thursday night drinks) at the Corrie Inn for well over 3 years and it has always satisfied. The drink is cheap, and poured by a man who some say is ‘the best barman in the world’. You can order a round of 8 different drinks from him, and then when you go back for the next round he will say “same again” and pour your exact order, without having to be reminded of what you want. I’m reliably informed that there is also a barmaid with incredible cleavage! While main meals are nothing to speak of, the bar does boast a good variety of bar snacks. On a Friday night there is young clunge a plenty. It is advisable to wear wellies as you will be knee deep. On a disappointing note the music quiz which they used to host on a Thursday night is no longer.
This was a standard local, with low key décor, booths, and a beer soaked carpet. They have recently redecorated and tiles now replace the carpet around the bar, while the toilets are now akin to those of a trendy wine bar even providing bottles of hand soap. However, with this redecoration the Corrie Inn has forgotten its core customers, the regulars that go every week.
On Christmas Eve the Corrie Inn advertised it opened until midnight, so the lads pitched up for an Xmas pint at 9pm. We were met at the door by one of the bar staff who told us it was too busy and they were not letting people in. Looking trough the window it didn’t seem that busy and the punters seemed to be the sort of people that come out of the woodwork only at Christmas, i.e. drunken families, and underage girls in tight dresses getting hammered before they go up town.
The lads went up the road to The Harp, a bar which was soon closing, then returned to the Corrie Inn an hour later at 10pm. On arrival, the same barmaid told us that the Corrie Inn was now closed, despite them advertising a closing time of 12 midnight. Through the window we could clearly see the bar staff were still serving drinks.
You drink in a local bar for years, supporting it with your custom, then try to go for drink at Christmas in said bar and are denied because they are busy and don’t need your money. In that case maybe they don’t need our money during January when there’s only a few people in the bar each night. Overall, a decent local, but one that won’t fill you with Christmas cheer!
A typical Edinburgh pub, which is to say; it's a fairly average old man sort of pub, frequented by tourists, where you are charged over £3 a pint for the privilege of drinking a very average pint of beer, poured by an inexperienced and rude barman/barmaid, on the Royal Mile.
