Festival champagne bar leaves QC fizzing

IT'S ENOUGH to send the old guard of Scotland's legal establishment spluttering into their dry sherries.

The Signet Library - an elegant Georgian oasis of calm amid the hustle and bustle of Edinburgh's Old Town - is to be opened up to the public as a pop-up champagne bar for festival-goers this summer.

The building's lower library, normally for the exclusive use of members of the Society of Writers to Her Majesty's Signet, will be open daily from 11am from 11pm throughout the Fringe.

The champagne bar is thought to be the first time the doors to the venue have been thrown open to the masses, although the building is available to hire for private events.

One senior lawyer branded the move "utterly outrageous".

Donald Findlay QC said: "I'm utterly appalled and scandalised at the suggestion. This is the slippery slope we're on now. The next thing they will be doing is carry-out pizzas and selling hamburgers.

The Signet Library, which looks on to Parliament Square, was built to a design by Robert Reid - the last King's Architect in Scotland - for the city's legal fraternity and completed in 1822, in time for the visit of King George IV to Edinburgh. He famously described the building's upper library as "the finest drawing room in Europe".

Findlay said: "It's the Signet Library, it's a famous historic building. This whole idea of cheapening things by hiring them out to the hoi polloi for weddings and all the rest it, I don't have any great time for that. And certainly the idea of letting a load of foreigners and goodness-knows-what to come in just to sip grossly overpriced champagne before they go off to see some ludicrously-priced, second-rate performance of something they won't even understand, I think kind of sums it up."

Since 1826 the premises has been under the ownership of the Society of Writers to Her Majesty's Signet, also known as the WS Society, which is Scotland's independent association for lawyers.

Edinburgh-based catering firm Heritage Portfolio, which has had an exclusivity contract with the venue, has struck a deal with Pommery for the venture.

Society members, Fringe officials and even the guardians of the city's heritage jewels have welcomed the move.

Scott Robertson, director of sales at Heritage Portfolio, said: "The venue part of the building we'll be using is actually a working library during the day. However, the society has agreed to allowing us to use it every day during the Fringe.

"Although we can accommodate around 220 people there for a reception, we will obviously be installing a fair bit of equipment for the pop-up bar and we think the capacity will be between 100 and 150.

"It won't just be selling champagne, people will also be able to have other drinks, or a snack of some sort, although we haven't quite decided what yet.

"The Signet Library really is an amazing building that many people will not even know exists.

"It's a great opportunity to see inside a building that thousands of people walk past every day."

The society said it expected the champagne bar to "provide the perfect backdrop to meet friends and colleagues, with its impressive surroundings and intricate architectural nuances".

Stuart Duncan, chairman of Edinburgh solicitors Davidson Chalmers, described the move as "a very welcome initiative".

"The Signet Library really is one of Edinburgh's architectural gems. Its architecture is absolutely superb, and this will be a great opportunity for people to see inside," he said.

Marion Williams, director of the Cockburn Association, the capital's main heritage watchdog, said: "This is a fantastic move to make this building more accessible. It is such a beautiful building and a pop-up champagne bar sounds like a great idea."

The Signet Library, billed by events organisers as "Edinburgh's best-kept secret", can be hired for anything from private dinners and wine tastings to ceilidh dances or balls.

Heritage Portfolio also provides catering for a host of other upmarket venues in the capital, including Hopetoun House, the Royal College of Surgeons and the Mansfield Traquair Centre.

The pop-up champagne bar will be opening as the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo unveils its new 15 million arena at Edinburgh Castle esplanade, including spectacular corporate hospitality facilities overlooking the Royal Mile. A floating restaurant will also be returning to Princes Street Gardens during the festival this year.

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