8 Young St.
Edinburgh
EH2 4JB
0131 539 7119
The Oxford is an unpretentious and unspoilt boozer in the New Town which is famous because it’s the local of fictional detective John Rebus and his creator author Ian Rankin. It doesn’t actually appear in the TV series of Rebus – the slightly grander Nobles Bar in Leith and the 1960s interior of the Laurieston Bar in Glasgow stand in for it.
The smallish main bar with the bar counter is the first room you enter, and there is a larger room to the right. This had been spruced up on my last visit, displaying paintings from local artists for sale, but the old ‘Murray’s Pale Ale’ mirror is still there (photo 3).
Another old brewery sign is on the window outside, advertising Bernards, an Edinburgh brewery which closed as long ago as 1904 (photo 4).
The Oxford serves Deuchar’s IPA and a range of other Scottish real ales and is a regular in the Good Beer Guide.
