History
When we are going up the hill of fortune, may we ne’er meet a friend coming down.
the name
Named after the famous book The Antiquary by Sir Walter Scott, the Antiquary Bar is a basement bar situated in St Stephen Street for about 45 years. First opened as a high class restaurant amongst antique shops, and shortly after as a popular bar. It hasn’t changed much in appearance and character over the years, although going through a few changes to the layout.
The portrait is by Sir Henry Raeburn, who lived on the other side of the Water of Leith and laid out the streets there. Stockbridge has Raeburn Place and Ann Street, named for his wife, because of him.
the street
St Stephen Street
St Stephen Street itself has changed immensely over the years, and up till the sixties was a pretty run down area. A number of properties were bought and modernised and the street started to take on its modern day character. It was famous in those days for its antique shops, and some still survive today. Although the shops have changed over the years, St Stephen Street still retains a unique character and has been a popular backdrop for a few TV and movie productions. In fact a few productions have used the Antiquary as a film set, more recently the films Festival and Clive Barker’s Book of Blood.
Meet in the Antiquary was the call.
below stairs
The resident ghost
The locals and a number of bar staff have insisted that there is a resident ghost in the building (usually after a few tipples). At the back of the Antiquary in the cellar area there are the remains of an old bakery from the nineteenth century, and apparently there was a great fire in the street which destroyed half of the buildings and sadly took a few lives. The ghosts, it is said, are a friendly baker lady and her son, who appears to be looking for her.
the regulars
The Tic, the Antiq, the Auntie Mary
Over the years “The Tic” or “The Antiq” or “The Auntie Mary”, or to English students “The Anti-query”, has been a meeting place for all sorts. From the hippies of Stockbridge, to the famous Mondays of the early eighties when Tiffany’s Monday live band nights were the place to be and “meet in the Antiquary” was the call. Then on to the late eighties and the meeting place of Edinburgh’s biker community, and shortly after that it was all the rage for computer gaming, and the back room area at the time was full of Space Invader type machines and pinball tables.
In the nineties it was home for Edinburgh’s Happy Humpers, the hard living, hard drinking guys who manned the concert and event stages of the live music scene. The nineties also saw a young and vibrant group of characters known as “The Animals”, who still, over twenty years later, frequent the bar. It is alleged that they even persuaded the resident ghost to buy a round. Through the nineties and up to today the bar is still popular with students, but the essential criteria for all the years is the fact that the Antiquary is a popular bar for all and everyone feels welcome, from the locals of all ages through to tourists visiting the area.
It is alleged that they even persuaded the resident ghost to buy a round.
the redesign
Dougie Smith and the gymnasium floor
The bar was extensively changed about 25 years ago. The bar serving area in a separate small room didn’t really work with the overall layout, and a redesign was needed without losing the unique atmosphere of the pub. Dougie Smith, who had designed a number of traditional Edinburgh pubs, was brought in to change things while keeping the character intact, and even brought in wood for the floors reclaimed from a gymnasium. The result still stands today, and the bar area has two very individual sides with a more central serving area.
the library
breakfast & roasts
The all-in breakfast
Thirty years ago the Antiquary was the first in the area to offer an all-in breakfast, and is still famous for it today. At the time in Stockbridge it was not easy to get fed on a Sunday morning, and the idea of getting a full fry up with toast, orange juice, coffee and the rest for a flat price was to prove really popular. The menu is much the same today with a few changes, but the formula of top quality locally produced ingredients still proves popular, even with consumers watching the calories. Now proving just as popular are the Sunday roasts, with roast beef and all the trimmings nearly always among them.
