The Brass Monkey
The Brass Monkey
362 Leith Walk
Edinburgh
What is it: The Brass Monkey is often described as one of Leith's best kept secrets. From the outside it looks small but inside it's like the Tardis. Dark wood tables, mismatched comfortable furniture with classic movie posters make up the decor. There is also a movie room in the back which shows cult films every day.
Interesting fact: The use of "brass monkey" seems to date to 1857 when it was used by CA Abbey in his book Before The Mast, where he writes that the weather "would freeze the tail off a brass monkey" although I have heard the term used to freeze some other part of the body off.
Verdict: The Leith Brass Monkey has a sister bar of the same name on the capital's Drummond Street. I liked the vibe of this place, it does attract the student crowd but not in a bad way. Student crowds are way more sophisticated than they used to be and expect way more in their drinking establishments than a cheap pint and sticky floors. There are always events happening such as film nights, live music and its popular quiz night hosted by Dr Paul. The staff are friendly and you can tell they are proud to work here and this makes for a happy group of punters.
Drinks: Decent beer selection and a fun cocktail list. I opted for a Black Isle Yellow Hammer IPA for £4.
Food: Modern pub grub with hot dogs, nachos, burgers. There is a strong veggie offering. I enjoyed The Monkey Burger which was a curried chickpea burger with mango chutney for a reasonable £9.
Price: Good, honest prices. Lots of promotions. Pint from £3.30 and bottles of wine from £9.50.
Alfresco: During the summer months there is some seating on the cobbles out front.
Children: Allowed in if dining until 8pm.
Avoid if: You are looking for a more refined dining experience.
Perfect for: Getting a comfy seat in the movie room in the back on your day off and relaxing with a few beers.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article