The Street

Spontaneous visit to my favourite spot of the pink triangle tonight and surprisingly busy for a Monday. Some revellers still partying from pride weekend mixed with an eclectic bunch of tourists, backpackers, and locals providing interesting viewing and entertainment! The Street for me is Edinburgh’s version of the famous Twin Peaks Tavern in San Francisco with its large street front windows… good for looking in and out of! The bar is actually very, very good, with a great selection of spirits, beers and cocktails at reasonable prices for such a prime location in town, bar staff are friendly and helpful and the whole place makes you feel welcome instantly. Check out their disco downstairs at the weekends too… a great wee dancing spot to top of the night and then on to café piccante for chips and cheese! Braw!

I popped in here for a pre diner drink. It’s somewhere I used to end up a lot for after work drinks, but thats going back a few years.
The atmosphere and feel of the place hasn’t changed, and the bar staff are friendly and its not too busy on a weeknight. I had a couple of drinks here, and sta it one of the booths in the back, def more comfortable than some of the cube seats downstairs.
I just had a couple of spirits and mixers, but I did notice that they have cocktail offers during the week, so I would ask about that first the next time as my memory tells me they do good ones.
The Street is a pre club sort of a place, but one of the nicest pubs in this stretch of town, I much prefer it to the Omni Street blandness and the Outhouse round the corner. It wasn’t too expensive either.

Nice bar, good beer, friendly bar staff

I agree with another reviewer who correctly compared it to waiting at a bus station. Upstairs is like waiting for a bus, and downstairs is best avoided unless you are really desperate for the toilet.
On the plus side, it does have a good location and big windows, like any bus station should have.

The is a well run pub, right on the corner, right at the beginning of Leith Walk/​Street. It gets the people who go to George Street and the People who go to Leith Walk. The menu is good but there is a lack of sit down tables to eat at, just high tables and stools, (unless you eat outside).
The lounge area downstairs has a bar that opens up later on, and there’s a DJ that starts playing from around nine ’til one in the morning. The prices are typical Edinburgh city centre, i.e. not cheap. They have a good selection of beers and the bar staff are very efficient.
I’ve been here a few times now and the only tip that I’d pass on is not to sit on the couch on the far wall because there is a psychodelic lava lamp spotlight that will shine in your eyes all night in a totally unforgiving way.
The music that the DJ plays is good dance mixes of favourite tunes, as well as some classic R & B stuff.

I ended up in here on my last stop of a pub crawl, and having walked past the windows many times, I didn’t even realise it was a club.
There were a couple of gay people in the group with us and this is the place they come to most often. When we arrived (a Friday night) the club was absolutely jumping. I managed to shove my way to the bar and ordered a couple of cocktails. I opted for a Vesper Martini and a Tom Collins and my jaw almost hit the floor when I was charged £13! They weren’t by any means the best cocktails I have had, but they were amongst the most expensive!
The basement club was nice, decked out in wooden floors with cream and brown leathers, cube seats and comfy booths, and plenty of room for a boogie. I had a really good night but as for drinking, I could barely afford to drink much more than my two cocktails!
Great atmosphere, but can get a bit cramped at times.

Apparantly this is a gay bar?! I’ve been here twice prior to GHQ and it just seemed a normal, friendly bar. The unique think about The Street is that it’s peaceful without being boring. The décor has a smooth, contemporary and relaxed feel to it and, as a result, makes you feel a bit more sophisticated than you actually are (I found that, at least). The bar staff are all efficient and their friendly manner is certainly fitting with the overall mood of the place.
The drinks, however, are quite expensive and I probably wouldn’t plan to drink here for a heavy session prior to a night out. The Street is worthy of ‘nights with integrity’ and gives a great, chilled out atmosphere in which to enjoy yourself.

Whiskey and ginger beer were on my mind from the second I hopped on the train to Edinburgh. When I arrived 5 hours later, I was in dire need. (Ginger Beer was optional at that point.) And there, on the way to my hotel like a glorious glowing whiskey heaven beckoning me in by Saint Ginger Beer, was The Street.
However my hunger immediately took over as it always does, and like the whiny little brat my stomach is, there would be no whiskey until it was fed. So I walked into the Street nearly raging in h-​anger and asked for a recommendation for a local restaurant, promising to come back for a tipple or seven.
The staff was exceptionally friendly and without missing a beat, immediately pointed me to one of the most divine Thai restaurants I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating in. (Edinburgh + Thai Food? Who’da thunk, right?!). All I could think of while devouring my food was how thankful I was for the guys at The Street and how impressed I was by their taste in Thai food!
So of course I went back and had that whiskey. And another… couple. I think Ginger Beer was involved, but I can’t be sure.
Amazing staff. Convenient location. Great taste in local grub. Whiskey. Ginger Beer. And a gay bar apparently? All I know is that gay or straight, The Street was an absolutely ideal introduction to Edinburgh. …And that’s not just the whiskey talkin’!

I had no idea The Street was a gay bar. I was enticed by the high stools in the window offering prime people watching opportunities and the bar bites advertised on the board. I suppose it should have been clear that this was a gay bar, as Stuart points out there is a distinct lack of lads and footie banter going on. Thank goodness for that!
The drinks are fine and reasonable priced, but I used to enjoy stopping in here for some bar food on the way home when I couldn’t be bothered to cook. It is the standard bar menu but the welcoming surroundings and relaxed atmosphere make it much more enjoyable.

It feels like The Street has been around for ages, however I do have a feeling it’s been one of those bars that’s changed its name a couple of times… anyway, irrelevant, since I’m loving a bit of East End loitering (in a good way) at the moment, The Street is in prime position for my drinking needs, on the corner between the very cool Broughton Street and Picardy Place.
The Street is deceptively big, with what seems like just a small bar at the front stretching through to more tables at the back, with a basement bar and dancefloor downstairs. The Street is in Edinburgh’s gay quarter, and seems to attract a mixed crowd, who are as equally up for partying here as they are for some chill time. The inside is polished and good looking, and the bar space next to the tall windows at the front of the bar mean you can perch, drink a cocktail with major zing (the tequila in the Long Island Iced Tea… wow) and people watch, three of my favourite things and activities. There’s also free Wi-​Fi, and a decent menu, with food served until 9pm.

A straight man… in a gay bar. My friends ponder this question every time I go to a place like this. They think that just by walking through the door you become a card carrying lesbian, and you know what, I’m glad.
The general narrow mindedness of people keeps the «lads» out of this place, leaving nothing but the friendliest people in the world. I think alot of girls come here to just so they don’t get hit on by guy’s and can dance in peace.
This place is just chilled out, i’ve never seen a fight or anyone even raising there voice. The drinks are expensive, but you’re paying extra for a hassle free night.

Another gay-​friendly-​but-​not-​exclusively bar within the gay quarter.
Rather nice hang out with a snuggly downstairs which feels intimate even though the tables are big enough for loads of your liberal pals. At night there’s a rather good selection of DJs (well they have been while I’ve been there).
The pleasantly surprising light bites to have with your beverage are actually a lot more impressive that the booze. The cocktails, even though it’s advertised itself for the more cosmopolitan drinker, are a bit ropey and cheap tasting but they’re obviously professionals and have no problems knocking out a good rum and coke.

lacks any style that it used to have and definitely without any atmosphere. Reminds me of standing in a bus station, standing around and waiting

Matt’s mojito’s are simply fantastic, he makes the best mojito’s in Edinburgh. If you love Bacardi mojito’s then make sure you ask Matt to make it for you.
Jackie

A fantastic place to go for a drink, their happy hour is great value at £1.75 for a vodka/​whiskey/​rum and mixer or a VK etc. They also have 2 for 1 cocktails on Mondays.
We always sit downstairs as it’s rarely busy and the staff are always friendly in my opinion. I’ve tried some of the food, I like their olives, fries, nachos and garlic bread but didn’t like the macaroni cheese I had once, it was a bit lumpy and thick!

The Street (fondly remembered as Pop Rokit) is a gay friendly bar on the corner of Picardy Place and Broughton St (I hate calling it the Pink Triangle, so will avoid — oops).
The best spot in the city for people watching as you can gaze at clubbers walking through the huge windows (you can’t hide in the upstairs bar, that’s for sure) + it’s a nice spot for a post shop coffee in daylight hours.
Downstairs is a clubbier vibe with house (who still listens to house??) and dance DJs most nights.
Ess

This is a bar and club in the corner of Picardy Place and Broughton Street. It has a stylish bar at the ground floor level with wall length windows giving a great view of the traffic and people walking by. Downstairs they have a DJ and club set with whitewashed stone walls and wooden floors. It is a gay-​friendly bar. Earlier in the evenings it’s a mixed clientel with office workers and students etc, but later on in the evening it’s definitely mostly gay people there. They do a food menu during the day, and put a few tables outside in the summer. There’s a huge fish tank next to the bar too, so it’s a useful extra bar to know about, as long as you realise it is mostly for gay customers later in the evenings.

this place is fab! the bar is usually busy, during the day with the lucky long lunchers, and straight after work with the ‘what a day i’ve had’ crew! there are a handful of tables outside and when the sun is shining you havent a hope of getting one unless your friends got off work earlier and bagged one. the staf are friendly and there are boothseats towards the back which offer a fair amount of privacy. downstairs is a nice mix of sofa seating around what can be the dancefloor from time to time and another area which is more ‘just the bar’. they serve food but again its never been on my list when i’ve been in. quite a few pre-​club nights held in here, and you can reserve seating downstairs if you ask really nicely