Football comes home at the Edinburgh

10 April 2012

This review was first published in September 1999

With the advent of the dedicated sports bar, the pub has recently lost something of its pastoral role as a meeting place for the local community to worship the great gods of Sky. But if you find these glitzy upstarts, with their multi mini TVs, a little too flash and self-conscious, there are still a few pubs that cater specifically for football fans.

The Edinburgh is among the best. A huge, square bar serves two rooms. The smaller room is more traditional, with just one TV and a medium-sized flat-screen. The large room at the back is another matter. Here, in this airy, black-painted space, is one of the best and biggest screens you're likely to find anywhere indoors. There is also a jukebox (unplugged on match days), two pool tables, a large Havana fan and one of the worst murals in Christendom celebrating, for no apparent reason, film and pop stars. Where's the tribute to Andy Gray?

The atmosphere is fantastically friendly, with the black, white and Asian customers sitting on benches and forming an appreciative and knowledgeable crowd - they even clap good passes. It's not in the least bit macho, either, as was made evident by the women and young children watching, of all things, a Leeds-Liverpool game when I visited. Things may change, of course, depending on who's playing - I doubt that the same restraint is shown in this border territory during a Spurs-Arsenal derby.

Pub grub - spag bol and gammon steaks - is also served, along with that most reassuring of dishes, the 'all-day breakfast'. At £3.70, that runs rings around the burgers that continue to infest stadium catering.

The Edinburgh
125 Newington Green Road, N1 64RA

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