Scott's is now the pub with no beer

Published on Wednesday 21 May 2008 09:26

ANOTHER of Rose Street's iconic pubs down the tubes. Scott's, the last watering hole at its west end, has closed A real shame, it had form. Ma Scott ran a reputable inn there for well over 20 years, pre and post-war; took no nonsense and preferred up to downmarket.

Times are grim enough in the pub trade and it's understood that prospective buyers are finding this lease prohibitive.

Says Paddy Crossan, virtually the last of the street's "old school" landlords: "Rose Street has lost it in many respects.

"My mother had Paddy's Bar from 1925 before she transferred the licence to me in 1965, and we enjoyed an excellent reputation. One of the bastions.

"The decline was gradual and part of Edinburgh's folklore was that the test for young bloods was to travel every pub in the street, have a pint or half-pint in each and still remain standing at the finale.

"The wild claim was that it meant downing 20 or more pints, but there couldn't have been more than a dozen or 15 pubs at the most at any one time."

The sobering truth is that today's young bloods lack the staying power. Whiff of a barman's apron and they're falling about.

Beggars belief

In your face. A new form of begging, believed to have been imported from Eastern Europe, is prevalent in Edinburgh. Women, with impunity, thrusting paper cups in the faces of Princes Street bus queues.

The same women, equipped with "disability" props, who are unloaded from a Lothian bus just after 9am every weekend morning.

Tight reins

Hold your horses! Even snooty Royal Ascot is feeling the financial draught. For the first time the Queen's representative, the Duke of Devonshire, has rubber-stamped an advertising campaign to sell tickets for the June meet.

Up for grabs, boxes for up to 35,000 a day. Worth every penny. You could find yourself gorging on strawberries next to Her Majesty's box – or Heather Mills' even.

My advice, and it comes straight from the horse's mouth: stay at home, ladies, and do Kelso or Perth instead. You'll get a box there for a comparative handful of sweeties, or a lump of sugar.