K. Jackson's, City Cafe, and the pub as community hub
Rosamund West looks back at two pubs (one sadly resting-in-peace) with central roles to play in Edinburgh's artistic community, even if they didn't know it at the time
My ideal of the pub was formed in my late teens and early twenties by K. Jackson’s, the long-since-demolished boozer opposite the side entrance to Edinburgh College of Art. I studied Sculpture, and Jackson’s was closer to my studio than the canteen. We were there constantly – friends celebrated Valentine’s with their £1 toasties; we waited there for our degree results, leaving a half-drunk bottle of wine behind the bar while we nipped across the street to collect our terrifying envelopes, assuring the barman we had almost certainly failed (we had not). I had the privilege of attending bartender Lesley’s 40th birthday, where she told me and my friend Rab that we were ‘like the daughters [she] never had.’ It’s possible we were there too much.
The clientele was a heady mix of old man regulars and a revolving cast of art students and tutors. Different departments would occupy their own tables and, as the night progressed, start to mingle-slash-argue. It created a space for the exchange of learnings and ideas, for clashes between disciplines and generations, and for the potentially rarified art world to rub up against a local space and have its positions challenged.
Around the same time, a new magazine called The Skinny was in its early planning stages, and a lot of that planning also happened in the pub. The basement of the City Cafe was an early host of the editorial meetings, where contributors would turn up and pitch then-editor Xavier with their ideas. In a time before easy access to self-publishing with an audience (pre-Facebook et al), the opportunity for print publishing felt like one true way to express ideas, to have your voice heard. There was a particular energy to the hordes of aspiring writers, jostling for space – both physical and print – in this dark basement, as the editor, an Australian unsuited to the dark and cold of Scottish winters, got quietly drunk. It felt like the correct usage of the pub; a place of community, discussion, organising. It’s the vibe I’ve been searching for ever since.
The City Cafe, 19 Blair St, Edinburgh; Mon-Fri 9am-midnight, Sat-Sun 9am-1am
This article is from issue two of GNAW, our new Scottish food and drink magazine. Free copies are available in venues across Scotland, or read the full thing via Issuu. Follow GNAW on Instagram @gnawmag