John Dowie, the tavern’s legendary host, took over a spot known as The Mermaid around 1770. Imagine squeezing into dim, cramped rooms: the largest fit only fourteen people, and the smallest, known as “the coffin,” somehow managed to hold six-if everyone skipped dessert. The cozy gloom was no match for Dowie's warmth and humor, and it certainly didn’t put off the famous crowd who flocked here.
Legal eagles from the law courts, writers, poets, and even Robert Burns-Scotland’s national bard-were regulars. Burns himself rather liked “the coffin,” perhaps feeling right at home with other literary spirits. The food was hearty, including Nor’ Loch trout, Welsh rabbit, and the mysterious “puffed herring.” Thirsty? You’d be delighted by Edinburgh Ale supplied from Archibald Younger’s brewery, a name nearly as famous as Dowie’s in those days.
The tavern ran from 10 in the morning until midnight, giving plenty of time to hatch clever ideas or questionable alibis. Clubs like the College of Dowie took root here, gathering city officials, artists-even Henry Raeburn the painter. After Dowie’s death in 1817, the place was renamed Burns Tavern, a nod to its most poetic patron. Sadly, progress waits for no one-by the 1830s, the tavern was demolished to make way for George IV Bridge. So if you sense a lingering thirst for good company and great ale here, you’re definitely standing in the right spot.
