Newbarns Taproom, Leith

If you’re planning a catch-up with pals this Christmas, may we suggest one of Leith’s many brewery taprooms? If nothing else, you have options: Moonwake's spot is a mezzanine that lets you look down on the brewery like an omniscient narrator, while Campervan’s taproom is right in the brewery, giving the added frisson of looking like you’ve broken in and just started drinking. [Update – turns out Campervan's currently closed for winter, so you really will look like you've broken in. Please don't.] Round at Abbeyhill, Bellfield’s taproom is a brilliant half-indoor, half-outdoor space that seems to get larger and more intriguing every time we visit.

The latest on the scene comes from Newbarns, and on our last visit to the Newbarns Brewery in 2020, this taproom was little more than a dream. Well that’s not strictly true – it was a large pile of industrial ‘stuff’, a couple of toolkits, some very large pieces of wood, and a dream. Two years on, as we stroll down the fairy-lit path off Jane Street, it’s clearly a hive of activity, in that it’s just gone 6pm and you can hear the crowd inside from the end of the road.

Step inside and, not gonna lie, it’s a bit of a weird shape – the Taproom has a double-height ceiling, an interior wall that was clearly once an exterior wall, and a triangular floor plan that funnels everyone straight to the bar. It’s all soft lighting, whitewashed walls and dark wood; pair that with the industrial tanks and brewery equipment through the back and there’s a bit of an on-stage, off-stage feeling to proceedings. At one point, there’s a buzzing noise coming from behind those brewery tanks. Late night beer production? One of those weird sounds that large brewing equipment presumably makes? Nope, it’s Jonny Hamilton – one of the Newbarns brewers – putting together some IKEA stools with a power drill, before popping them down in the corner ‘in case anyone needs a seat’.

Crucially, the beer from those tanks is excellent. Eight taps of sessionable goodness from across the Newbarns slate, from the light and zesty Table Beer to an impeccably crisp Pilsner. As Gordon from the brewery told us on our previous visit, “​​if you want [a beer] that you recognise, but it's just a little bit nicer, or a little bit different, that's basically what we're aiming for.” They're all delicious, with noticeable variation from tap to tap but all well within the 'nice pint' category. Newbarns make beers for drinking in the pub, so it maybe isn’t a surprise that, on creating their own pub, they’ve absolutely smashed it.

This place is a bit like the greatest hits of the UK pub all playing at once – big barrels for standing around, little tables for a quiet chat, a booth-like bit in the back that everyone’s coveting, a well-stocked bar, a well-used dart board, a billiard table that comes with some lengthy instructions, lots of tiny little mirrors… but at no point does any of it feel like pastiche.

As much as we hate to just shrug and say ‘it has a good vibe’, the Newbarns Taproom has a very very good vibe. It already feels like a community pub, with its own regulars (tonight, they've come dressed as 'pub patrons from various completely unconnected periods in recent history') and its eccentricities, great staff and good music on the stereo. Pints are all priced at around a fiver, so you can actually stay all night without going bankrupt. There are enormous bags of crisps for sharing with your pals, and a massive outdoor courtyard for warmer days ahead. There’s a queue for the darts, but if you can work out the billiards it’s all yours – if you’re anything like us, we reckon you’ll be back here often enough to get the hang of it.

---

13 Jane St, Leith, EH6 5HE Thu-Fri, 5-10pm; Sat, 2-10pm; Sun 2-8pm
newbarnsbrewery.com

Photos by James Porteous