Best Cocktail Bars & Hidden Speakeasies in Edinburgh (2026)
Edinburgh has an unusually good cocktail scene for a city of half a million people, and an unusually frustrating one to navigate. The best bars are in basements, several have no sign at all, and at least three of them are on the same three hundred metres of Queen Street without any of them being visible from the pavement. Visitors regularly walk past all three on the way to something worse.
This guide does the thing the existing pages mostly do not: it tells you where the doors actually are, whether you need to book, what you will pay, and which of the “hidden” bars are genuinely worth the effort of finding. The headline fact is that Panda & Sons on Queen Street had its cocktail menu named the best in the world at the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation’s 2025 Spirited Awards — Edinburgh is not a provincial stop on this circuit, it is near the top of it.
At a Glance
- Queen Street is the axis. Panda & Sons (79), Bramble (16A) and Lucky Liquor Co are all on it, all in basements, all within a few minutes’ walk of each other.
- Panda & Sons is behind a barbershop. Go in, go down the stairs, and open the bookshelf. It is not a metaphor.
- Bramble takes walk-ins only. No bookings, ever. Arrive before 8pm or expect to wait.
- A cocktail costs £11 to £16 in a serious Edinburgh bar in 2026; hotel bars and the George Street rooms run higher.
- Edinburgh Cocktail Week runs Friday 2 to Sunday 11 October 2026, with a wristband giving £6 signature cocktails across the participating bars.
- There is no dress code worth worrying about. Edinburgh cocktail bars are notably unpretentious about clothes. Trainers are fine nearly everywhere.
- Book the small ones, walk into the big ones. The rule that saves the evening.
- Last orders are earlier than you think. A bar without an entertainment licence stops at 1am like any pub, weekends included.
- Leith has its own scene, led by Nauticus on Duke Street, and it is worth the tram.
- You do not tip at the bar, but a cocktail bar with table service is closer to a restaurant — see our tipping guide.
The Comparison Table
| Bar | Where | Booking | Price band | Go for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Panda & Sons | 79 Queen Street (basement) | Strongly advised | £12–£16 | The best cocktail menu in the world, on paper and arguably in the glass |
| Bramble | 16A Queen Street (basement) | Walk-in only, no bookings | £11–£14 | The city’s most-loved bar, and the least showy |
| Lucky Liquor Co | Queen Street | Walk-in, small room | £11–£14 | A short, constantly rewritten menu built from a fixed set of ingredients |
| Hoot the Redeemer | 7 Hanover Street (basement) | Walk-in | £11–£14 | Carnival sideshow theatre, boozy slushies, pinball |
| Nauticus | Duke Street, Leith | Advised at weekends | £11–£14 | Scottish spirits, Leith history, no gimmick |
| The Devil’s Advocate | Advocate’s Close, off the Royal Mile | Advised | £12–£15 | A converted Victorian pump house with a serious whisky list |
| The Voyage of Buck | William Street, West End | Advised for dinner | £12–£15 | An early-evening drink somewhere handsome and unhurried |
| Under the Stairs | Merchant Street (basement) | Walk-in | £10–£13 | The cheapest good cocktail in the Old Town |
| Tigerlily / Superico | George Street | Book, especially the club | £13–£17 | Dressed-up George Street glamour and a late licence downstairs |
| Lulu / hotel bars | George Street and around | Book | £14–£18 | When the point is the room rather than the drink |
Finding the Hidden Ones: Actual Door Directions
Every guide to Edinburgh’s speakeasies describes them as “hidden” and then gives you a postcode. Here is what you will physically see.
Panda & Sons, 79 Queen Street
From the street you are looking at a barbershop — a real one, with a red and white pole and a window display of vintage clippers. Walk in. Immediately inside there is a staircase going down. Take it. At the bottom you face a bookshelf. It is a door; push it. Behind it is a low-ceilinged room with a marble bar, and the drinks arriving there are as technically ambitious as any in Britain.
The bar was founded in 2013 by Iain McPherson, whose work on freezing and concentrating spirits — a technique developed here — is the reason the place turns up in international bartending conversations. In 2025 its menu was named the best in the world by the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation’s Spirited Awards, an industry judgement rather than a readers’ poll.
The honest verdict: this is the one to book and the one to make an occasion of. It is also genuinely small, so a group of six turning up at 9pm on a Saturday without a table will not get in. Book online, ideally a week out, more in August and December.
Bramble, 16A Queen Street
Bramble is under a dry cleaner’s. There is no window, no illuminated sign and nothing at pavement level except a small plaque and a set of steps going down below the railings. If you are walking along Queen Street looking up, you will miss it; look down at the basement areas instead. Inside it is bare brick, low light, leather armchairs and a series of alcoves — the layout that every bar opened since has tried to copy.
Bramble does not take bookings. This is a firm policy rather than a difficulty with the phone, and it means the practical strategy is to arrive early — before 8pm on a weeknight, earlier at the weekend — or to accept a wait. There is no queue management to speak of; you go down, you see whether there is space, and if there is not you come back.
The honest verdict: of every bar on this page, Bramble is the one Edinburgh people name first, and it has held that position for two decades without ever redesigning itself. It is also the one most likely to be full. Treat it as the first stop of the night, not the third.
Hoot the Redeemer, 7 Hanover Street
Another basement, this one just off Princes Street, from the same people as Panda & Sons. The street-level frontage reads as an old-fashioned ice cream parlour; the door is guarded by a fortune-teller automaton in a glass case. Downstairs it is a carnival sideshow — vintage pinball tables, tarot imagery on the walls, and a menu that includes boozy slushies alongside properly built drinks.
The honest verdict: this is the most fun bar on the list and the least serious. If your group contains one person who finds cocktail bars intimidating, take them here first. If you want to taste what a bar team can do at the top of its range, go to Panda & Sons instead — same ownership, entirely different intention.
Lucky Liquor Co, Queen Street
Small, bright, and built on a constraint: a fixed and deliberately limited set of base ingredients, from which the team writes a short menu that is then torn up and rewritten. The result is a list where you will not recognise anything, which is the point. Ask the bartender what has just gone on and order that.
It is a few doors from Bramble, which makes the two of them the natural pair for a first hour. If Bramble is full, Lucky Liquor is your fallback and not a downgrade.
Beyond the Speakeasies
The Devil’s Advocate, Advocate’s Close
Down one of the steep closes off the Royal Mile, in a converted Victorian pump house with stone walls and a mezzanine. This is the best cocktail bar in the Old Town, and the only one that also holds a whisky list serious enough to satisfy someone who came to Scotland for whisky. The close itself is a set of steps between the High Street and Cockburn Street; the entrance is partway down and easy to find once you are in the close.
Nauticus, Duke Street, Leith
Leith’s contribution, and a bar that appears on the UK’s top-fifty list without behaving like it. Scottish spirits, a menu that draws on the port’s history, and a room that feels like a good local rather than a destination. It is a fifteen-minute tram ride plus a short walk from the centre, and it pairs well with an evening on the Shore’s pubs rather than competing with them.
Under the Stairs, Merchant Street
A basement below the Cowgate bridges, reached from a short street most people have never walked along. Mismatched furniture, an unfussy room, and cocktails a couple of pounds cheaper than the Queen Street bars without being noticeably worse. If your budget will not stretch to £15 drinks all evening, this is where to spend the middle of the night. Our Edinburgh on a budget guide covers the same principle across the rest of the city.
The Voyage of Buck, William Street
West End, on the prettiest small street in the New Town, themed loosely around the travels of a fictional Edwardian gentleman. It is a good deal less irritating than that sounds. Comfortable, well-lit, good for a conversation, and the right answer for an early-evening drink before dinner rather than a late one.
George Street: Tigerlily, Superico and the hotel bars
George Street is Edinburgh’s glossy strip: broad, Georgian, and lined with bars that have spent money on their interiors. Tigerlily is the best-known, with the Superico club in its basement holding a late licence. The drinks are competent and expensive; the appeal is the room and the crowd rather than the technique.
The honest verdict: if you are choosing between a £16 cocktail on George Street and a £13 one on Queen Street, the Queen Street drink will be better made almost every time. George Street is where to go when you want to be somewhere expensive-looking with a large group, which is a legitimate thing to want — just do not confuse it with where the city’s best bartending happens.
Edinburgh Cocktail Week: The Cheapest Way To Do All Of This
Edinburgh Cocktail Week 2026 runs from Friday 2 October to Sunday 11 October. Buy a wristband and it entitles you to:
- £6 signature cocktails at every participating bar, for the whole ten days, with no limit on how many.
- £9 “prestige” cocktails at the five-star venues that take part.
- Free entry to the Cocktail Village at Festival Square, in the West End below the castle.
- Access to a participating list that the organisers describe as running between 100 and 120-plus bars across the city.
The arithmetic is straightforward: three cocktails saves you the price of the wristband several times over. Newly listed bars for 2026 include Hey Palu, Understory, Eidyn, Dublin Street Social, Bittersweet, The Blackbird, Blossom Cocktail Bar, the Lochrin Rooftop Bar and the Lighthouse Bar at the Fingal — the last of which is aboard a converted lighthouse tender permanently berthed in Leith. Buy your wristband directly from the organisers rather than from a resale listing, and use the full list of participating bars on their site.
The honest verdict: Cocktail Week is the single best-value ten days in Edinburgh’s drinking calendar and one of the very few festival-style events in this city that is genuinely aimed at residents rather than visitors. If your dates are flexible and you care about this at all, move them. It also falls in a quiet, cheap week for accommodation, well after the August crush described in our festivals and events guide.
Booking, Queues, Dress and Timing
What to book and what not to
The rule is counter-intuitive: book the small famous ones, walk into the big glossy ones. Panda & Sons and the Devil’s Advocate genuinely fill and genuinely turn people away. Tigerlily on a Thursday will find you a table. Bramble cannot be booked at all, so the only lever you have there is arriving early. Booking policies shift seasonally, particularly in August and December, so a quick look at a bar’s own site before you commit an evening to it is time well spent.
Two-hour table limits are common in the smaller rooms at peak times. Nobody will be rude about it, but do not plan a four-hour evening in one basement.
Dress code
Effectively none. Edinburgh’s cocktail bars are notably relaxed compared with London or Glasgow equivalents, and the city’s weather makes formality impractical anyway — nobody is going to comment on a waterproof. The exceptions are the George Street club spaces at the weekend, where door staff will turn away obvious stag and hen groups, sportswear and anyone visibly drunk. That is a behaviour filter more than a clothing one.
Closing time
The licensing rule that catches visitors out applies here too: a bar without an entertainment licence closes at 1am, and weekends are no later. Only venues holding a late licence — the George Street club rooms and the Cowgate strip — run to 3am. If you want a 2am drink, you are going to end up in a club rather than a cocktail bar, which is a different evening. Our guide to the Cowgate covers that side.
What things cost
| Item | Typical 2026 price | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Cocktail, independent bar | £11–£14 | Queen Street, Leith, Old Town basements |
| Cocktail, flagship or hotel bar | £14–£18 | George Street and the five-stars |
| Cocktail Week signature | £6 | With a wristband, 2–11 October 2026 |
| Cocktail Week prestige serve | £9 | Five-star venues only |
| Pint, in the same bars | £5.50–£7.00 | Cocktail bars sit at the top of the city range |
| Soft drink or zero-proof cocktail | £5–£9 | Most of the good bars take these seriously now |
A Route That Works
If you have one evening and want to see the actual scene rather than a hotel bar, this is the sequence, and it is almost entirely flat walking.
- 6:30pm — Bramble. Arrive early enough to get in without waiting. One drink, take the room in.
- 7:45pm — Lucky Liquor Co. A few doors along the same street. Order whatever the bartender is pleased about.
- 9:00pm — Panda & Sons. Booked in advance. This is the one you came for, so give it two drinks rather than one.
- 10:30pm — Hoot the Redeemer. Five minutes’ walk to Hanover Street, and a deliberate change of register for the end of the night.
- Alternative Old Town version: Devil’s Advocate, then Under the Stairs, then on to the Cowgate if you want a late licence.
Total walking across the New Town route: about twelve minutes, all of it on level ground between Queen Street and Hanover Street. For what else is open around you at that hour, see things to do in Edinburgh at night.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best cocktail bars in Edinburgh?
The best cocktail bars Edinburgh currently has are Panda & Sons at 79 Queen Street, whose menu was named the world’s best at the 2025 Spirited Awards; Bramble at 16A Queen Street, the bar Edinburgh people name first; Lucky Liquor Co on the same street; the Devil’s Advocate in the Old Town; and Nauticus in Leith. All five are independent and none of them is in a hotel.
How do you get into Panda & Sons?
Walk into the barbershop at 79 Queen Street — it is a genuine barbershop frontage with a red and white pole. Take the staircase immediately inside down to the basement. At the bottom there is a bookshelf, which is the door. Push it and go through.
Do you need to book cocktail bars in Edinburgh?
Book the small, well-known ones — Panda & Sons and the Devil’s Advocate in particular — a week ahead, and more in August and December. Bramble does not take bookings at all, so arrive before 8pm. The larger George Street bars will nearly always find you a table on the night.
How much is a cocktail in Edinburgh?
£11 to £14 in an independent bar in 2026, and £14 to £18 in a hotel or a George Street flagship. During Edinburgh Cocktail Week in early October, a wristband brings signature cocktails down to £6 and prestige serves at five-star venues to £9.
When is Edinburgh Cocktail Week 2026?
Friday 2 October to Sunday 11 October 2026. A wristband gives £6 signature cocktails at participating bars for the full ten days, £9 prestige cocktails at five-star venues, and free entry to the Cocktail Village at Festival Square.
Is there a dress code for Edinburgh cocktail bars?
Essentially no. Edinburgh’s cocktail bars are relaxed about clothing and trainers are fine almost everywhere. The exception is the George Street club spaces at weekends, where door staff filter for behaviour — turning away obvious stag and hen parties, sportswear and anyone already drunk — rather than for smartness.
What time do cocktail bars close in Edinburgh?
1am for a bar without an entertainment licence, and that does not extend at weekends. Only venues with a late licence, principally on George Street and around the Cowgate, serve until 3am. If you want a drink after 1am you will be in a club rather than a cocktail bar.
Where is Bramble bar in Edinburgh?
16A Queen Street, in a basement beneath a dry cleaner’s. There is no window or illuminated sign — only a small plaque and a set of steps leading down below the street railings. Look down at basement level rather than up at the buildings and you will find it.
Are Edinburgh’s speakeasy bars worth it?
The good ones are, because the concealment is incidental rather than the product. Panda & Sons and Bramble would be excellent bars with a shopfront and a neon sign. Be more sceptical of newer venues whose entire proposition is a hidden door — a hard-to-find entrance is not, by itself, a reason to drink somewhere.
Addresses, entrances, booking policies and prices above were checked in September 2026. Cocktail Week dates and wristband entitlements are taken from the festival’s own site. Bar opening hours change seasonally and during August.
For the wider after-dark picture, start with the Edinburgh nightlife guide. If beer rather than cocktails is your evening, our guide to the best pubs in Edinburgh covers the same city from the other end, and the whisky bars guide handles the gantries. For somewhere to eat before any of it, see the Edinburgh food guide.
